# Protocols and Standards

Understanding the standards that Empeiria is built on helps you assess compatibility with existing systems and future-proofing for your organization. This section explains the key standards we implement and what they mean for your use case.

## Why Standards Matter

When evaluating any identity or data verification technology, standards compliance is crucial for several reasons:

**Interoperability**: Standards-based systems can work with other compliant systems without custom integration work. If you decide to switch vendors or add additional solutions, standards compliance makes that transition much smoother.

**Future-Proofing**: Technologies built on established standards are more likely to remain compatible as the ecosystem evolves. Proprietary solutions risk becoming obsolete or requiring costly migrations.

**Enterprise Adoption**: Large organizations typically require standards compliance before adopting new technologies. Standards provide confidence that the technology has been vetted by industry experts.

**Regulatory Compliance**: Many regulations reference specific technical standards. Using standards-compliant solutions can simplify compliance efforts.

The success of SSI relies on interoperable protocols and standards. Key contributions include:

1. [**W3C DID Standard**](https://www.w3.org/TR/did-core/)**:** Defines how to create and manage globally unique, user-controlled identifiers independent of any centralized authority.
2. [**W3C Verifiable Credentials Data Model**](https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-data-model-2.0/)**:** Specifies the structure and format for Verifiable Credentials (VCs), including cryptographic signing and tamper-proof verification.
3. **Industry Initiatives and Working Groups:** Organizations like the [Decentralized Identity Foundation](https://identity.foundation/) work on best practices for SSI, fostering interoperability and innovation.

Standards compatibility is the key to data interoperability. Empeiria enables data sharing across various data ecosystems and organizational adoption by adhering to industry standards in the table below.

|                               |               Name              | Standarizing Body |                                                                       URL                                                                       |
| :---------------------------: | :-----------------------------: | :---------------: | :---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------: |
|           Data Model          |              VC, VP             |        W3C        |                                          [w3.org/TR/vc-data-model](https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-data-model)                                         |
|       Credential Format       |              JWT-VC             |        W3C        |                          [w3.org/TR/vc-data-model/#json-web-token](https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-data-model/#json-web-token)                         |
| Credential Format — Signature |               JWS               |        IETF       |                              [datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc7515](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc7515)                             |
|       Entity Identifier       |               DID               |        W3C        |                                              [w3.org/TR/did-core](https://www.w3.org/TR/did-core/)                                              |
|      User Authentication      |              SIOPv2             |        OIDF       |           [openid.net/specs/openid-connect-self-issued-v2-1\_0.html](https://openid.net/specs/openid-connect-self-issued-v2-1_0.html)           |
|            Issuance           |             OIDC4VC             |      OIDC4VC      | [openid.net/specs/openid-4-verifiable-credential-issuance-1\_0.html](https://openid.net/specs/openid-4-verifiable-credential-issuance-1_0.html) |
|           Revocation          |      Bitstring Status List      |        W3C        |                              [w3.org/TR/vc-bitstring-status-list](https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-bitstring-status-list/)                              |
|         Presentations         |             OIDC4VP             |        OIDF       |        [openid.net/specs/openid-4-verifiable-presentation-1\_0.html](https://openid.net/specs/openid-4-verifiable-presentation-1_0.html)        |
|         Presentations         |      Presentation Exchange      |        DIF        |                         [identity.foundation/presentation-exchange](https://identity.foundation/presentation-exchange/)                         |
|           Messaging           |      DIDComm Messaging v2.1     |        DIF        |                                                       [didcomm.org](https://didcomm.org/)                                                       |
|     Configuration/Binding     |         DIDConfiguration        |        DIF        |       [identity.foundation/.well-known/resources/did-configuration/](https://identity.foundation/.well-known/resources/did-configuration/)      |
|          Data Format          | JSON for Linking Data (JSON-LD) |        W3C        |                                             [w3.org/TR/json-ld11/](https://www.w3.org/TR/json-ld11/)                                            |
|    Credential Presentation    |   JWT VC Presentation Profile   |        W3C        |                       [w3.org/TR/vc-data-model/#presentations-jwt](https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-data-model/#presentations-jwt)                      |


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