---
title: "SCORM, xAPI, cmi5, AICC and LTI — what each standard is for | SCORM Tools"
canonical_url: "https://scorm-tools.com/standards"
last_updated: "2026-10-31T10:21:41.797Z"
meta:
  description: "Plain-English definitions of the six standards this directory tracks, their version histories, the official specifications and registries, and every listed tool that supports each one."
  "og:description": "Plain-English definitions of the six standards this directory tracks, their version histories, the official specifications and registries, and every listed tool that supports each one."
  "og:title": "SCORM, xAPI, cmi5, AICC and LTI — what each standard is for"
---

# **Standards**

Six specifications, written by four different bodies over thirty years, that between them decide whether a course works in a given system.

Every listing on this site records which of these it supports and where that fact came from — the vendor's own page, a check we did on a stated date, or an entry in an official registry. The pages below explain what each standard actually requires, so the matrix on a listing means something.

We link to the specifications and to the registries other organisations run. We do not operate a conformance programme, and nothing here is a badge of our own.

**SCORM 1.2**

Published in 2001 and still the most widely supported export format there is. A ZIP, a manifest, and a small flat data model.

[SCORM 1.2](https://scorm-tools.com/standards/scorm-1-2)

**SCORM 2004**

Completion and success tracked separately, a much larger data model, and sequencing rules the LMS enforces. Four editions, and they differ.

[SCORM 2004](https://scorm-tools.com/standards/scorm-2004)

**xAPI**

Actor, verb, object — recorded anywhere and stored in a Learning Record Store. No packaging, no launch, by design.

[xAPI](https://scorm-tools.com/standards/xapi)

**cmi5**

The xAPI profile that adds what xAPI leaves out: a course structure, a launch contract and nine verbs that decide the outcome.

[cmi5](https://scorm-tools.com/standards/cmi5)

**AICC**

Pre-SCORM, unmaintained since 2014, and still worth knowing because HACP crosses domains where SCORM cannot.

[AICC](https://scorm-tools.com/standards/aicc)

**LTI**

Not a packaging format at all: the LMS launches a tool that stays where it is, and passes a signed assertion about the learner.

[LTI](https://scorm-tools.com/standards/lti)