The Universal Preservation Format is a file format that utilizes a container or wrapper structure. Its framework incorporates metadata that identifies its contents within a registry of standard data types and serves as the source code for mapping or trans

The Universal Preservation Format is a file format that utilizes a container or wrapper structure. Its framework incorporates metadata that identifies its contents within a registry of standard data types and serves as the source code for mapping or translating binary composition into accessible or useable forms. The UPF is designed to be independent of the computer applications that created them, independent of the operating system from which these applications originated, and independent of the physical media upon which it is stored. The UPF is characterised as 'self-described' because it includes within its metadata all the technical specifications required to build and rebuild appropriate media browsers to access its contained material throughout time.