What Makes An Archive Copy Different From A Delivery Copy

The file audiences watch and the file kept for the future serve opposite purposes. Optimizing for one produces a poor version of the other.

Delivery copies are optimized to be discarded

A delivery file is compressed hard, matched to a specific screen and connection, and expected to be superseded. Losing information is acceptable because it exists elsewhere.

It is also tailored to current playback expectations, which change. A file matched to today's typical screen will look dated against tomorrow's.

Keeping delivery copies as an archive means keeping the most degraded version of the work. Any future use inherits that degradation.

Archive copies preserve options

An archive master keeps as much of the original as practical, including color latitude and resolution beyond current delivery needs.

The reason is that future uses are unknown. Material archived for one purpose is routinely used for another years later.

Where the original camera files are kept, that is usually the best archive. Where they cannot be, a lightly compressed master is the fallback.

Format longevity matters more than efficiency

An archive format must remain readable long after the software that created it is gone. Openly documented formats with many independent implementations are safer than proprietary ones.

Efficiency is a secondary concern, since an archive is read rarely. Paying storage for simplicity and durability is usually the right trade.

Widely adopted formats survive because too much material depends on them. Obscure ones can become unreadable within a working career.

Context is part of the archive

A file without information about what it shows, when and where it was recorded and who holds rights to it is far less useful than one with that context.

Project files, edit decision lists, caption files and notes belong with the media, because reconstructing them later is expensive or impossible.

Storing this alongside the media in open, readable formats protects against the loss of the systems that originally held it.

An archive requires ongoing attention

Storage media age and fail, so archives must be copied to new media periodically rather than left alone.

Formats and readers also age, which occasionally makes migration to a newer format necessary. Each migration is a decision point requiring judgment.

An archive nobody checks is an assumption rather than a fact. Periodic verification that files still open and still match their recorded checksums is what makes it real.