Hi Linda,



In general, I agree with the comments made so far by Jesse, Bill, and Larry, with some exceptions.



One of the assumptions most folks have made in their reply (exception:  Larry Medina) is that the "scanned images" which you mention are of text documents. If that's the case, their comments are perfectly valid.



However, if your scanned images are of graphics (such as photographs), Tagged Image File Format MAY be preferable, as you will be able to manipulate the images (in applications such as Adobe PhotoShop) far more comprehensively.



I have to remind Larry that the Portable Document Format (PDF) and its variants, are NO LONGER proprietary:  they are currently maintained by various Technical Committees of the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO).



The "regular" PDF is now ISO 32000-1:2008 "Document management -- Portable document format -- Part 1: PDF 1.7" (see http://www.iso.org/iso/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=51502), and a version titled ISO 32000-2 is under development by ISO TC 171, SC2.



PDF/A (which also falls under TC 171 SC2) exists in three variants:

·        ISO 19005-1:2005 Document management -- Electronic document file format for long-term preservation -- Part 1: Use of PDF 1.4 (PDF/A-1)

·        ISO 19005-2:2011 Document management -- Electronic document file format for long-term preservation -- Part 2: Use of ISO 32000-1 (PDF/A-2)

·        ISO 19005-3:2012 Document management -- Electronic document file format for long-term preservation -- Part 3: Use of ISO 32000-1 with support for embedded files (PDF/A-3)



There are other variants of PDF which fall under other ISO Technical Committees, such as ISO 15930-1:2001 Graphic technology -- Prepress digital data exchange -- Use of PDF -- Part 1: Complete exchange using CMYK data (PDF/X-1 and PDF/X-1a), which falls under TC 130.



Best regards,



Fred

-----------------------------------------------------------

Frederic J. Grevin, Vice-President

Records Management Department

New York City Economic Development Corporation • www.nycedc.com

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