In this paper we discuss archival storage formats from the point of view of digital curation and
preservation. Considering established approaches to data management as our jumping off point, we
selected seven format attributes which are core to the long term accessibility of digital materials.
These we have labeled core preservation attributes. These attributes are then used as evaluation
criteria to compare file formats belonging to five common categories: formats for archiving selected
content (e.g. tar, WARC), disk image formats that capture data for recovery or installation
(partimage, dd raw image), these two types combined with a selected compression algorithm (e.g.
tar+gzip), formats that combine packing and compression (e.g. 7-zip), and forensic file formats for
data analysis in criminal investigations (e.g. aff, Advanced Forensic File format). We present a
general discussion of the file format landscape in terms of the attributes we discuss, and make a
direct comparison between the three most promising archival formats: tar, WARC, and aff. We
conclude by suggesting the next steps to take the research forward and to validate the observations
we have made