This International Standard specifies techniques for archiving electronic data to ensure their long-term integrity, accessibility, usability, readability and reliability, in order to protect the evidential value of the data.

In this International Standard, long term is considered to be a period of time lasting more than a century (see ISO 5466).

Black-and-white microforms processed with liquid chemicals are used in this International Standard because the result is always an irreversible record and because of the proven quality of microforms as a long-term preservation media.

This International Standard also specifies procedures for the parallel recording, by a single production unit, of COM and COLD output from the same data.

It applies to many different types of electronic data, such as text and two-dimensional graphic data which can be represented as a black-and-white image.

It is not applicable to the following:

Neither is this International Standard applicable to microforms created from dry thermal processes, since they offer insufficient guarantees in terms of irreversibility and longevity.