This document is a technical Recommended Practice for use in developing a broader consensus on what is required for an archive to provide permanent, or indefinite Long Term, preservation of digital information. This Recommended Practice establishes a common framework of terms and concepts which make up an Open Archival Information System (OAIS). It allows existing and future archives to be more meaningfully compared and contrasted. It provides a basis for further standardization within an archival context and it should promote greater vendor awareness of, and support of, archival requirements. CCSDS has changed the classification of Reference Models from Blue (Recommended Standard) to Magenta (Recommended Practice). Through the process of normal evolution, it is expected that expansion, deletion, or modification of this document may occur. This Recommended Practice is therefore subject to CCSDS document management and change control procedures, which are defined in the Procedures Manual for the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems. Current issue updates document based on input from user community (note). Current versions of CCSDS documents are maintained at the CCSDS Web site: http://www.ccsds.org/