# What is SCORM? The course file your LMS asks for SCORM is a set of technical standards that lets one packaged online course run in many learning management systems and report back who opened it, finished it and passed. This post is for owners, HR leads and operations managers who have been asked for a SCORM file. It covers what a package holds, how the versions differ and when xAPI or plain video fits better. ## What is SCORM? SCORM stands for Sharable Content Object Reference Model. It is not a product, and it is not really a file type of its own. It is a set of rules that course builders and LMS vendors both follow, so a course made in one tool can play in another company's system. It came from the Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative, a U.S. training initiative that also started xAPI. ISO later published SCORM 2004 3rd Edition as a series of technical reports in December 2009, including one part on sequencing and navigation. For an employer, the meaning is practical. If your LMS accepts SCORM, you can build or buy a course elsewhere and still assign and track it in the system you already run. ## What is inside a SCORM file? A SCORM file, also called a SCORM package, is a zip file. You do not unpack it yourself. You upload it to the LMS, which reads it and sets the course up. Because the course is built from web files, it runs in a browser window that the LMS opens. It needs a live connection to the LMS while someone takes it. - A manifest: a small file named imsmanifest.xml that lists the course's parts, their order and how to launch them. - The course itself: web pages, scripts, images, audio and video, the same kinds of files a website uses. - Descriptions and rules: which SCORM version the course follows and, in the later version, rules about the order in which parts open. ## What happens when someone takes the course? The course and the LMS talk to each other the whole time. IEEE 1484.11.2 defines the programming interface for that exchange, a short set of calls the course makes inside the browser. IEEE 1484.11.1 defines the data that moves through it, including learner data, interactions, objectives, status, time and scores. A typical session runs like this. - The learner opens the assigned course in the LMS, and the LMS launches it in a window. - The course finds the LMS's interface and reports that a session has started. - As the learner works, the course sends answers, a score, time spent and a bookmark of where they stopped. - When the learner closes it, the course reports whether it is complete and, if there was a test, whether the learner passed. - The LMS stores that record. The package keeps nothing, so moving a course to another LMS does not move its completion history. ## How do SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004, xAPI and MP4 compare? SCORM has two versions in common use, and an LMS may accept one, both or neither. Some systems also take xAPI. A plain video file is the fourth option, and for many tasks it is enough. The table compares what each one carries and when to choose it. Check every row against what your own LMS supports, because support varies by product and sometimes by plan. SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004, xAPI and MP4: what each carries and when to choose it | Format | What travels with it | What gets recorded | Where it plays | Choose it when | |---|---|---|---|---| | SCORM 1.2 | A zip package of web files with a manifest | One status that mixes finished and passed, plus a score, time and a bookmark | Inside an LMS, in a browser | Your LMS accepts only this version, or it is the one your LMS handles reliably | | SCORM 2004 | The same kind of zip package, with optional rules for the order of lessons | Separate fields for completed and passed, plus scores, answers, objectives, time and a bookmark | Inside an LMS, in a browser | Your LMS supports it, and you need lessons in a set order or pass and completion kept apart | | xAPI | Statements about what a person did, sent to a learning record store | Any activity written as actor, verb and object, inside or outside a course | Inside or outside an LMS, including apps, simulations and checks on the job | You need records of learning away from an LMS screen, and you have a record store to receive them | | MP4 video | One video file, with captions burned in or sent as a separate file | Nothing, unless the system playing it counts views | Any player, phone, shared screen or LMS | The goal is to show a task, and a supervisor or a separate quiz confirms the learning | ## What is the difference between SCORM and xAPI? SCORM assumes a person sits in front of an LMS and takes a course in a browser. xAPI drops that assumption. ADL's xAPI document says it grew from a need to track learning beyond formal, structured computer-based training, both online and offline. Each record is a statement in the form actor, verb, object, such as "Dana completed the forklift pre-shift check." Statements go to a learning record store, a server that receives, stores and gives access to learning records. IEEE published xAPI as the standard IEEE 9274.1.1 in October 2023. The catch for a small employer is the record store. Some LMSs include one and some do not, and an xAPI course with nowhere to send its statements records nothing. A related profile called cmi5 sets rules for launching xAPI courses from an LMS, so ask whether your system supports it. ## Which format should you ask for? Start from the system that will play the course and keep the record, not from the course. These questions settle most cases in one talk with whoever runs your LMS. Then upload one test package to a small group before you assign it to everyone. - Which formats and versions does our LMS accept? Ask for the exact SCORM version, not just a yes. - Does our LMS include a learning record store, or would xAPI records need a separate one? - Which record do HR or an inspector rely on, and does this course need to appear in it? - Will people take the course at a desk, on a phone or on a shared screen with no login? - If it is a quick look before a task, is a short MP4 video enough? - Who keeps the original, editable files, so the course can be changed later? ## What does SCORM not do for you? SCORM solves a delivery problem, not a content problem. A package plays the same way in many systems, but the standard says nothing about whether the lesson is correct, current or useful. It also makes editing harder. A package is the finished output, so changing one step usually means going back to the source files in the tool that built it and exporting again. Keep those files, and note which version is live in the LMS. - It does not write the course or check that the procedure inside it is right. - It does not update the course when the procedure changes. - It does not carry completion records from one LMS to the next. - It does not prove that someone can do the task. A quiz score shows recall, and a supervisor still watches the work. ## How did one linen service choose? A fictional commercial linen service runs two laundry plants and a fleet of route drivers. Its HR records live in a payroll suite with a basic LMS built in. The operations manager has two new pieces of training: a course on sorting soiled linen for plant staff and a walk-through on loading a truck for drivers. - She asks the HR admin what the LMS accepts. The answer is SCORM 1.2 packages and video files, with no record store for xAPI. - The sorting course has a quiz and needs a completion record for each plant, so it goes in as a SCORM 1.2 package. - Before assigning it, the HR admin tries it with two supervisors. One passes and one stops halfway, and both records show up correctly, bookmark included. - Drivers watch the loading walk-through on their phones before a route, so a plain MP4 file is enough. A route supervisor signs off on each driver's first loads in person. - xAPI comes up as a way to record those ride-along checks, but without a record store it waits until the next LMS review. ## Where does Elvina fit? Elvina exports approved courses as SCORM or xAPI packages and video lessons as MP4 files, and that export is available now. You upload the file to your LMS like any other course, and the LMS keeps the record. Check which SCORM version your LMS accepts, and test one package with a small group first. Elvina does not import or play SCORM packages built in other tools, so keep those in the system that runs them today. Her courses start from sources in Company Knowledge, each with an owner and a version. After a procedure changes, Creation Studio makes the new draft from the updated source, not by editing an old package. A person approves it before export, and both steps are available now. For now, our team runs these steps with you on the platform, while Elvina picks up each one as it is confirmed. ## What we would measure Track whether packages work in your system and whether the version people take is the current one. Start the list with the first upload. - Packages that launch, record completion and keep a bookmark on the first test upload. - Courses where the copy in the LMS matches the latest approved version of the source. - Days from an approved procedure change to the new package going live. - Learner reports of a finished course that the LMS still shows as incomplete. - Completion records that disagree between two systems, if you run more than one. ## Questions people ask **Q:** What is a SCORM package? It is a zip file that holds a course's web pages, media and scripts, plus a manifest file that describes its parts. You upload the zip to your LMS without unpacking it. Check which SCORM version your LMS accepts before anyone builds or exports the package. **Q:** Should I use SCORM or xAPI? Use SCORM when the course runs in your LMS and you need a completion record there, which covers most employee training. Choose xAPI when you need to record learning outside an LMS, such as checks on the job, and you have a learning record store to receive the statements. ## Sources Public sources, checked on the date shown. - ISO/IEC TR 29163-4, published December 2009, covers SCORM 2004 3rd Edition sequencing and navigation, including the LMS's duties when sequencing content. Source: https://committee.iso.org/standard/53537.html (checked 2026-10-02). - IEEE 1484.11.1-2022 defines data a content object exchanges with a runtime service: learner data, interactions, objectives, status, time and scores. Source: https://standards.ieee.org/ieee/1484.11.1/10324/ (checked 2026-10-02). - ADL's xAPI 1.0.3 document says xAPI arose to track learning beyond formal computer-based training, and defines the Learning Record Store. Source: https://github.com/adlnet/xAPI-Spec/blob/master/xAPI-About.md (checked 2026-10-02). - IEEE 9274.1.1-2023, published October 6, 2023, standardizes xAPI as a JSON data model and web service for a Learning Record Store. Source: https://standards.ieee.org/ieee/9274.1.1/7321/ (checked 2026-10-02).