Piql has a unique approach to long-term storage with our offline, write-once-read-many (WORM) storage medium piqlFilm. The information stored on piqlFilm is permanent—the medium has been tested to last for a thousand years. Understanding how future file formats will be understood in the future presents a challenge, as their accessibility depends on three factors: the format's complexity, how widely it's used, and how far into the future the files need to survive.
Figure 1: Example of piqlFilm
We frequently receive questions about ensuring file accessibility and readability in the future. In digital preservation and data archiving, best practices recommend storing files in recognized, well-documented, open-source formats.
The process of converting files into these well-known formats is called normalization, and we refer to it as future proofing of files.
Normalization is crucial for ensuring data is stored in file formats with the highest likelihood of long-term survival. This methodology is followed by major national archives worldwide, including the Library of Congress (LoC), British National Archive, Open Preservation Foundation, Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC), and the Norwegian National Archive. Their key responsibility is to assess and establish file format policies for optimal practical outcomes, which may include modifying file sizes and properties.
We apply this same approach to files, calling it future proofing. This forms an essential part of making our long-term storage process self-contained.
Piql's approach to file format normalization (future proofing) is straightforward: it is up to you.
As the data owner, you decide whether and how to future-proof your files—and we're here to help. You might have valid reasons to keep data in its original format, or your data may already be well-prepared for piqlFilm storage. We're always available to provide guidance and answer your questions.
When you store data in preservation-friendly, open-source formats on piqlFilm, we include comprehensive documentation on how to read these files in the future. This includes all necessary format specifications and, in some cases, dedicated software readers for specific formats.
Our approach stores all data, file format information, and decoding instructions in one, self-contained, storage medium. We preserve this documentation in both human-readable format (visible to the naked eye) and machine-readable format, ensuring future technology can process it effectively.
Figure 2: Example of how representation information can be visually stored on piqlFilm. Black frames contains digital data as a high-resolution QR-code.
Since all this information is encapsulated within the same storage medium, we consider it a digital time capsule.
This is where Piql differentiates from other storage technologies and strategies, which typically migrate information from one file format to another and between generations of storage media. We believe this migration process risks compromising valuable information through internal or external errors. Our approach is unique—we've designed a perpetual storage medium that captures data in its original form, along with documentation for future retrieval, whether in 20 years or 2000 years. The retrieval process remains independent of both Piql as a company and the technology used to access the information.
The QR-code decoding software is open source, published on GitHub, and included directly on the piqlFilm. When needed, the information can be retrieved using just basic tools: a simple computer, a capturing device (such as a camera), natural light, and a magnifying glass. You can see how this retrieval process works in our video here:
https://vimeo.com/186385894?embedded=true&source=vimeo_logo&owner=15038390