# ARCHANGEL: Tamper-proofing Video Archives using Temporal Content Hashes on the Blockchain

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1904.12059 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.12059/

## Key facts

- Cited by 7 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 26 Apr 2019.

## Built on by (most cited first, 7 of 7)

- [TrustMark: Universal Watermarking for Arbitrary Resolution Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.18297/) (2023)
- [RepMix: Representation Mixing for Robust Attribution of Synthesized Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.02063/) (2022)
- [DECORAIT -- DECentralized Opt-in/out Registry for AI Training](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.14400/) (2023)
- [PDFed: Privacy-Preserving and Decentralized Asynchronous Federated Learning for Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.18245/) (2024)
- [Learning Probabilistic Embeddings for Unsupervised Action Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.05263/) (2026)
- [Soft Redaction of Image Provenance via Zero-Knowledge Proofs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.07063/) (2026)
- [Signpost Watermarking: Joint Optimization for Visual Watermark Coexistence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.10091/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We present ARCHANGEL; a novel distributed ledger based system for assuring the long-term integrity of digital video archives. First, we describe a novel deep network architecture for computing compact temporal content hashes (TCHs) from audio-visual streams with durations of minutes or hours. Our TCHs are sensitive to accidental or malicious content modification (tampering) but invariant to the codec used to encode the video. This is necessary due to the curatorial requirement for archives to format shift video over time to ensure future accessibility. Second, we describe how the TCHs (and the models used to derive them) are secured via a proof-of-authority blockchain distributed across multiple independent archives. We report on the efficacy of ARCHANGEL within the context of a trial deployment in which the national government archives of the United Kingdom, Estonia and Norway participated.