DICOM specifies a standard for storing images and other composite objects on media such as a CD or DVD for the purpose of exchange.

There is no explicit definition of a DICOM archive and/or how or with what format the DICOM objects should be archived or stored. An archive is purely a device that supports one or more of the DICOM services such as storage or query/retrieve with no standard internal data representation.

The selection of a specific media format definition is done by reference to PS 3.12 of the DICOM standard, which specifies Application Profiles, i.e. the selected physical medium, a specific associated media format and the mapping of this media format services onto the DICOM file service.