I think, for keeping pictures long term, the best format is to buy a photo album (but not one with sticky pages -- those go bad) and print out the pictures and

I think, for keeping pictures long term, the best format is to buy a photo album (but not one with sticky pages -- those go bad) and print out the pictures and put them in the album. I have a photo album with a number of pictures and handwritten notes about where I was, who is in the picture, and what we were doing. Second best option is an archival grade CD-R or DVD-R (but not Blu-Ray: There was/is not enough support for Blu Rays, but at one point, CD/DVD support was universal), with the contents clearly marked on the front of the disk so your loved ones can quickly know what is on the disk. Images should all be in .jpg format (converted as necessary), and notes should be in .txt files. (.webp will probably work long term, but I would use .jpg to ensure compatibility, since that is the lowest common denominator format for photos) Music, if one is a composer, should be either 16/44.1 .wav files or 320k mp3 files; the music files should be in stereo. I would have videos be 24p (24 frames per second) or 30p (30 frames per second) 720p resolution (hi-def: 1280x720) video in H264 .mp4 format. Be careful: Some open source applications will write a .mp4 they themselves can play, but won’t play (or won’t play well) on other video players. H264 format .mp4 looks to be pretty much universally compatible, however. I suggest keeping the resolution and frame rate down to minimize problems.