SCORM 1.2 or SCORM 2004: which should your course use?
Both versions are still in daily use. Here is what actually differs, and how to choose for your LMS and your learners.
· Sandeep Mittal
When a client asks for "a SCORM course", the first question we ask back is: which version? SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004 are both widely used, and the right choice depends mostly on your LMS and on what you need to track.
What they have in common
Both versions package a course as a zip file with a manifest that any compliant LMS can import. Both let the course tell the LMS whether the learner finished, what they scored, how long they spent and where to resume next time.
What is different
- Completion and success: SCORM 1.2 has a single status field, so "completed" and "passed" share one value. SCORM 2004 tracks completion and pass or fail separately, which suits courses where a learner can finish without passing.
- Resume data: SCORM 1.2 allows only about 4,000 characters to remember where a learner is. Long courses with many interactions can run out of space. SCORM 2004 allows much more.
- Sequencing: SCORM 2004 can control the order of modules, such as unlocking module 3 only after module 2 is passed. In practice many LMSs support this only partly, so we often handle ordering inside the course instead.
- Support: SCORM 1.2 is supported by almost every LMS ever built. SCORM 2004 support is very good in modern systems, but older or lightweight LMSs sometimes behave differently.
How to choose
- If you sell or share courses with many organisations whose LMS you do not control, SCORM 1.2 is the safest choice.
- If your own LMS supports SCORM 2004 well and you need separate pass/fail tracking or long resume data, choose SCORM 2004.
- If you are not sure, send us access to your LMS. We upload a small test package in both versions and check what your LMS records.
Testing matters more than the version
Most SCORM problems we are asked to fix are not about the version. They come from courses that were never tested in the LMS they run in: completion that never registers, scores reported as zero, or learners sent back to the start. Testing each package in the real LMS before delivery avoids nearly all of them.
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