Open-Source Tools for Audio-Visual Archives

At Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola in Donostia (San Sebastián), Spain, from 4 to 7 June 2024.

Table of Contents

• Abstract

Abstract

The class begins with an introduction on file formats. Building on this the students will practically explore free and open-source software, such as:

• ffmpeg, HandBrake and Audacity for in-depth file transformation
• MediaInfo and ffprobe for technical metadata extraction
• QCTools and astataudit for quality control
• AEO-Light for sound extraction from optical tracks and
• DCP-o-matic for DCP encoding and file extraction

as well as various media players, including VLC, mpv and ffplay.

Resources on infrastructure and workflows for film and video digitisation will be presented and discussed, taking account especially of solutions which can be implemented in difficult environments at little expense and of solutions which can be automatised.

An overview on data preservation and migration, as well as disaster planning and recovery, will round off this class.

The lecturer is Reto Kromer.

2023-06-16