{
 "id": "personal-ancestral-file-paf-3",
 "name": "Personal Ancestral File (PAF)",
 "category": "dataset",
 "identifiers": {
  "extensions": [
   "paf"
  ],
  "puid": [
   "fmt/854"
  ],
  "wikidata": [
   "Q29167888"
  ],
  "magic": [
   {
    "offset": 0,
    "hex": "5041460033303000333030",
    "notes": "PAF 3"
   }
  ],
  "signatures": [
   {
    "name": "PAF 3",
    "sequences": [
     {
      "position": "bof",
      "offset": 0,
      "pattern": "5041460033303000333030"
     }
    ]
   }
  ]
 },
 "status": "unknown",
 "summary": "Personal Ancestral File was the name a genealogy software program made available by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. PAF is the native data format of the software, which was discontinued in 2013.",
 "tools": [
  {
   "name": "Family Tree Maker 10",
   "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q64859017",
   "reads": true,
   "writes": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Family Tree Maker 16",
   "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q123298956",
   "reads": true,
   "writes": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Legacy Family Tree Deluxe",
   "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q123348736",
   "reads": true,
   "writes": false
  },
  {
   "name": "My Family Tree",
   "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q140447896",
   "reads": true,
   "writes": false
  },
  {
   "name": "Personal Ancestral File",
   "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2072103",
   "reads": true,
   "writes": true,
   "license": "freeware"
  },
  {
   "name": "FFmpeg",
   "url": "https://ffmpeg.org",
   "license": "LGPL-2.1-or-later / GPL-2.0-or-later",
   "open_source": true,
   "reads": true,
   "writes": false,
   "via": "personal-ancestral-file"
  },
  {
   "name": "Family Tree Maker 2009",
   "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q121742672",
   "reads": true,
   "writes": false,
   "via": "personal-ancestral-file"
  },
  {
   "name": "Personal Historian",
   "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q123351154",
   "reads": true,
   "writes": false,
   "via": "personal-ancestral-file"
  },
  {
   "name": "PhotoRec",
   "url": "http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec",
   "reads": true,
   "writes": false,
   "license": "GNU General Public License",
   "open_source": true,
   "via": "personal-ancestral-file"
  },
  {
   "name": "RootsMagic 3",
   "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q123349816",
   "reads": true,
   "writes": false,
   "via": "personal-ancestral-file"
  }
 ],
 "projects": [
  {
   "name": "PRONOM fmt/854",
   "url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/PRONOM/fmt/854",
   "kind": "format-doc"
  },
  {
   "name": "Wikidata Q29167888",
   "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q29167888",
   "kind": "wiki"
  }
 ],
 "provenance": {
  "sources": [
   "pronom",
   "wikidata"
  ]
 },
 "updated": "2026-10-20",
 "version": "3",
 "aliases": [],
 "structure": [],
 "parsers": [],
 "conversions": [
  {
   "to": "flac-free-lossless-audio-codec-1-2-1",
   "tool": "FFmpeg",
   "command": "ffmpeg -i in.paf out.flac",
   "fidelity": "partial",
   "losses": "Audio track only: the video is dropped.",
   "url": "https://ffmpeg.org",
   "via": "personal-ancestral-file"
  },
  {
   "to": "waveform-audio",
   "tool": "FFmpeg",
   "command": "ffmpeg -i in.paf out.wav",
   "fidelity": "partial",
   "losses": "Audio track only: the video is dropped.",
   "url": "https://ffmpeg.org",
   "via": "personal-ancestral-file"
  },
  {
   "to": "mpeg-1-2-audio-layer-3",
   "tool": "FFmpeg",
   "command": "ffmpeg -i in.paf out.mp3",
   "fidelity": "lossy",
   "losses": "Lossy re-encoding.",
   "url": "https://ffmpeg.org",
   "via": "personal-ancestral-file"
  },
  {
   "to": "ogg",
   "tool": "FFmpeg",
   "command": "ffmpeg -i in.paf out.ogg",
   "fidelity": "lossy",
   "losses": "Lossy re-encoding.",
   "url": "https://ffmpeg.org",
   "via": "personal-ancestral-file"
  },
  {
   "to": "mpeg-4-part-14",
   "tool": "FFmpeg",
   "command": "ffmpeg -i in.paf out.mp4",
   "fidelity": "lossy",
   "losses": "Re-encoded with lossy codecs by default; try `-c copy` to remux without re-encoding when the codecs fit the container.",
   "url": "https://ffmpeg.org",
   "via": "personal-ancestral-file"
  },
  {
   "to": "matroska-1-4",
   "tool": "FFmpeg",
   "command": "ffmpeg -i in.paf out.mkv",
   "fidelity": "lossy",
   "losses": "Re-encoded with lossy codecs by default; try `-c copy` to remux without re-encoding when the codecs fit the container.",
   "url": "https://ffmpeg.org",
   "via": "personal-ancestral-file"
  },
  {
   "to": "webm",
   "tool": "FFmpeg",
   "command": "ffmpeg -i in.paf out.webm",
   "fidelity": "lossy",
   "losses": "Re-encoded with lossy codecs by default; try `-c copy` to remux without re-encoding when the codecs fit the container.",
   "url": "https://ffmpeg.org",
   "via": "personal-ancestral-file"
  }
 ],
 "samples": [],
 "claims": [],
 "verification": [],
 "family": "personal-ancestral-file"
}