We cannot undermine the significance of digital assets in today’s digital world. Before we talk about the types of Digital Assets, it’s essential to understand what they are. Any data about you that exists in a digital format classifies as a Digital Asset. Simply put, all the files that you store on your PC or cloud service are some of the few examples of the numerous types of Digital Assets.
For many of us, Digital Assets sounds like a fancy word to refer to your pictures, videos, and maybe a couple of eBooks. What other property would you digitally own, right? But what we must understand is that Digital Assets go beyond that. As soon as you start up your PC and create an account, even that information is a Digital Asset. But even then, why must they be classified?
What is a Digital Asset?
Anything that a person creates and stores digitally is a Digital Asset. With technological advances, digital assets are becoming more relevant. They are also becoming popular with each passing day. They are getting integrated both into our personal as well as our professional lives.
Images, videos, scanned documents, and data are digital assets that have existed for a long time. Now, experts also consider a company’s brand, which is intangible, as a digital asset. Photographs of our family, which do not have monetary value but sentimental value, are also classified as digital assets.
With the creation of blockchain and cryptocurrency funds in 2009, digital assets have a new meaning. Any item in digital format that can have value due to tokenization on the blockchain is a digital asset. So, What comes under digital assets? The answer is Photographs, Videos, Scanned Documents, Cryptocurrencies, and more.
Why are Digital Assets Important?
Individuals and companies tend to keep increasing the number of digital assets to increase their digital footprint. For some individuals being a digital asset investor is a must. One should not only know how to create digital assets but the reasons why digital assets are so important in today’s era. We list a few of the reasons why digital assets are essential.
- Staying in Touch – Sharing digital assets is a way of staying in touch via social media.
- Formulate Opinions – We can form ideas and opinions using digital assets. It brings the ability to have social influence by creating blogs, tweets, videos, and photographs.
- Rise in Personal Connections – Digital assets can create and strengthen personal connections.
- In our Work and Business – In our works, we use digital assets to ponder about thought and then create and edit, finally reviewing it before publication.
- Communication – Digital assets form a communication medium wherein we can send messages from one place to another, either in a country or between countries.
- Criminal Evidence – In police cases, digital assets come handy—for example – digital fingerprints. Also, the images available in the phones confiscated will have data and GPS details which will help the investigators in their investigation.
- Spread of News with Agility – With live streams possible with digital assets, the news around the world passes around with agility. Consumers have immediate access to any news, good or bad.
- Investment – Digital assets investment is another reason why digital assets are essential. When we use digital assets like NFTs, their value can sometimes increase to astronomical amounts. Hence, digital assets are considered an investment.
Common Types of Digital Assets
With the rise of technology, Digital Assets are perhaps one of the essential parts of our daily lives, despite most of us not even being aware of it. As we take them for granted, we also fail to distinguish that these assets exist in various forms and types.
Much like the material things we interact with outside the digital world. By classifying Digital Assets, we can separate them based on their intrinsic properties, making it easier for us to decide which Digital Asset to use in which situation.
So then, what are the commonly used formats of Digital Assets? The common types of digital assets are –
Portable Document Format, or PDF as we know it, is a critical Digital Asset. From research papers to manuals for products, PDF digital assets have infiltrated most parts of our lives. While texts occupy most of the spaces in a PDF file, images are also often incorporated.
PDFs differ from text files like .docx in that they can only be viewed or printed. This limitation, however, can be overcome by using additional PDF editing software.
Videos
The ultimate time killer, videos are a close second to images regarding the commonness of Digital Assets. The movies we watch or the billions of videos on youtube and other streaming platforms are a part of this. MP4s and .avi are the most common formats, with the latter capable of producing more quality. They are one-upped by the .mov files that are superior in picture quality while having a larger size.
Presentation
Presentations are one of the most versatile forms of Digital Assets as they can incorporate all of the assets mentioned earlier into them to a certain extent. Usually used to explain an idea or present various data, presentations also find themselves existing in several different formats. Among them, .pptx is the most common format for presentations.
Audio Files
Who doesn’t love a good song? If you don’t, then skip over to the next one. But if you do, you’ll be interested in finding that audio files aren’t just music. Those voice messages your friends send, or the ones you record, are classified as audio files, even the audio transcripted from texts. Audio files exist in a wide variety of formats. MP3, WAV, AU, AIFF, AAC, and WMA are common.
Images
The first thing that pops into our minds when we think of Digital Assets is images. From social media to the framed pictures adorning our homes, images are the most common form of Digital Assets. JPEG, PNG, and GIF are the most common formats for images.
Spreadsheets
Spreadsheets, while not the most exciting entry on the list, play a vital role in the successful running of a company or business. With their improvements over time, spreadsheets can now carry out calculus formulae, making things easier for employees. And with the advent of Google Sheets, we can now share and access the same files quicker and more conveniently. While .xls used to be the go-to format, now they also exist as .csv, .123, and .ods files.
Graphic Files
For any organization, its brand is one of its most essential aspects. But how do you get people to recognize your brand? Many big-name organizations have logos that are universally recognized. Even the organization’s name might not be necessary for them; The Logo itself is the brand. These logos related to your organization are also Digital Assets that come under the ‘graphic’ category.
Design Files
Suppose you’ve used any production software like Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Premiere. In that case, you might’ve noticed that the ‘projects’ do not save as image or video files, despite primarily involving them. You can only access these production files using the respective software. Design files usually exist in. PSD or .tiff formats.
Hence, the types of ways listed above answer the question: how do you categorize digital assets?
Cryptocurrency Mutual Funds
Cryptocurrency mutual funds are financial products that enable investors to invest in crypto assets. Examples of crypto-assets are Ethereum and Bitcoin. Investors can get exposure to these crypto-assets through a regular brokerage account. These crypto mutual funds invest only in digital currency or assets associated with the cryptocurrency market. Various cryptocurrencies are available in the Crypto market in which investors can invest. Bitcoin is the most common cryptocurrency used as an investment.
Conclusion
Technology is slowly becoming a vital part of our daily lives as it evolves everyday, rapidly. In this situation, we can let technology do all the work while drifting into complacency, or we can learn how to use these advancements to create a better future for ourselves and our fellow human beings.
So, What Are the Types of Digital Assets? They are essential assets in today’s world. Digital assets cryptocurrency and Digital assets blockchain are the future of digital assets. Now that you’ve learned about the various Digital Assets formats, it is time to create a Digital Estate Plan to manage your digital assets and ensure their safety. Sign up with Clocr to get all the help you can to create your own Digital Estate Plan. Our professional services allow you to choose the right pathway to form an everlasting digital legacy. Join Clocr today.
