SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model)
SCORM is the dominant e-learning packaging standard — a ZIP containing an imsmanifest.xml plus course assets that any compliant LMS can import, launch, and track (completions, scores, time) via a JavaScript API.
What is inside a package
A SCORM package is a ZIP whose root holds imsmanifest.xml — the manifest declaring organizations, resources, and the launch file — plus the HTML/JS content. The LMS reads the manifest, serves the launch file, and the content talks back through the SCORM API: completion status, score, suspend_data for resume state, and session time.
The two live versions are SCORM 1.2 (the old workhorse every LMS supports) and SCORM 2004 (several editions, richer sequencing and a stricter data model). Validation failures cluster around a few classics: missing or malformed manifest, broken launch-file reference, and file-reference case mismatches that explode on case-sensitive servers.
SCORM vs the newer standards
SCORM tracks one thing well — did the learner finish inside the LMS. xAPI generalizes tracking into actor-verb-object statements sent to a Learning Record Store, covering mobile, offline, and out-of-LMS learning; cmi5 bridges them by putting xAPI tracking inside an LMS-launched package. Most organizations still ship SCORM, which is why pre-upload validation saves real time.
Related Standards
- •SCORM 1.2 / SCORM 2004 (ADL)
- •xAPI — IEEE 9274.1.1
- •cmi5 — xAPI profile for LMS launch
Free Tools & Resources
Products & Services
Need help with this?
We consult and build across all of these domains — tell us what you are working on.