A stratified approach to contentoptimised digital video preservation

Brigham Young University library houses thousands of unique audiovisual recordings within special collections. The library has been managing an audiovisual digitisation programme since 2019 to provide access and preserve audiovisual content in perpetuity. To address the preservation of cultural heritage video content, a stratified approach has been developed according to video content characteristics. This stratification is useful in determining appropriate digital preservation. An argument is made for the use of unconventional lossy video compression codecs in video preservation practice to responsibly balance the needs of digital preservation and resource realities. This paper outlines the underlying reasoning, careful consideration, specific procedures and some results of the implementation of this approach. Similar questions and procedures should be considered when significant video preservation projects are undertaken.