This operation consists in moving from an original data source, called analog, of film, sound recording, photography, sculpture, to data stored on a computer as a purely digital description. The operation applies in particular to VHS tapes, audio cassettes and film photographs, as well as to all old media of the “”magnetic tape”” type. In recent formats, such as DV, AVCHD, MP3, JPEG, it is simply a matter of transferring the digital data stored on the recorder to the destination computer. If a transformation is necessary before use, we use conversion. The quality of the digitization plays a fundamental role on the quality of the data obtained because it is an irreversible operation. The quality of the digitization is therefore fundamental and does not completely eliminate the notion of preservation of the originals.
Digitization is however essential today because it allows, in theory, a very long-term conversion of data, as well as their manipulation on a computer.
Content validated by Groupe de Travail 4 (multimodality and visual-gestural modality)