A lightning talk at the CNI Fall Forum 2022: The Oxford Common File Layout (OCFL) is an application-independent method for storing and versioning content for digital preservation. Version 1.1 was released in October 2022, including backwards compatible corrections and clarifications based on implementation experience and community feedback. The session will recap goals, summarize changes in v1.1, and survey current implementations.

1. OCFL: A Shared Approach to Preservation Persistence
Digital Preservation is complex! Need strategies,
policies, actions ... plus a technical approach that
includes storage for digital objects
● Data lasts longer than software
● Migrations have significant risk
● Shared Approach: Pool expertise, Lower costs,
Fewer bugs, Reduce risks, Increase flexibility
OCFL v1.1: A Storage Foundation for Digital Preservation, Simeon Warner (Cornell)
https://bit.ly/2022-cni-ocfl, CNI Fall 2022. Washington, DC, USA. 2022-12-12
DCC Curation Lifecycle Model
https://www.dcc.ac.uk/guidance/curation-lifecycle-model

2. OCFL: Aligned with Preservation Needs
Two parts:
1. packaging the data streams comprising individual digital
objects
2. an approach to arranging objects on storage
Prepare for the future – Separate storage from applications
Filesystem metaphor – Maps to disk, tape and cloud object stores
Replication – Mixed storage, can use standard tools
Fixity fundamental – Upgrade digests in later object versions
Efficient updates – Sequence of immutable versions
Survivable – Simple, parseable, recoverable. Built on open specs
OCFL v1.1: A Storage Foundation for Digital Preservation, Simeon Warner (Cornell)
https://bit.ly/2022-cni-ocfl, CNI Fall 2022. Washington, DC, USA. 2022-12-12
OCFL logo: “hand-drive” by Patrick
Hochstenbach is licensed under CC BY 2.0

3. OCFL: Development and Implementations
Spring 2019 – “In progress” CNI briefing
Summer 2020 – OCFL v1.0
October 2022 – OCFL v1.1
• Adds conformance across
specification versions
• Several clarifications
• 8 community extensions
What’s next? Use cases for OCFL v2.0
• Distributed objects?
• Split/merge/branch objects/versions?
• File deletion?
OCFL in the wild
• Fedora versions 6+
• InvenioRDM
• Local implementations:
• University of Cologne: Center for
Analysis & Archiving of Audio-Visual
Data
• University of Technology, Sydney:
Research Data preservation platform
• University of Wisconsin, Madison:
digital preservation repository
• Brown University: digital preservation
repository
• Harvard University: digital
preservation repository, 470TB!!
OCFL v1.1: A Storage Foundation for Digital Preservation, Simeon Warner (Cornell)
https://bit.ly/2022-cni-ocfl, CNI Fall 2022. Washington, DC, USA. 2022-12-12
https://ocfl.io/