To ensure that preserved works can be rendered on current computer systems over time, migration has been used to convert data into current formats. As the new format becomes obselete another conversion is performed, and so on. This Conventional Migration has many inherent problems:

• Errors or ommisions from a transformation will propogate throughout later migration steps and be present in all future transformations.
• Continually producing migration tools whenever a transformation is required is costly and duplicates work

Conventional Migration

Conventional Migration has been widely used to convert obselete data into current data formats, and although in the short term it offers a way of keeping digital materials current, it is not an effective long term strategy.

Conventional Migration causes errors to be propogated