EVERPLAY contains a set of standards for the consumer imaging and electronics industry, aimed to provide products that are designed to satisfy consumers desire to protect their image assets for generations and provide interoperability across a variety of devices.

Since Photokina 2004, when its formation was announced, the EVERPLAY founders have worked to define the standard, which was initially called the Picture Archiving and Sharing Standard, abbreviated as "PASS" at that time. In concurrence with the completion of the PASS standard and the start of licensing, the new name "EVERPLAY" shall be used as an interchangeable name for the spec.

The EVERPLAY standard has defined the rules for preserving photographic images and associated meta data, so that they can be reproduced and enjoyed even through the transition to future storage media and technologies.
EVERPLAY enables evolution of an individual company's system/products while at the same time sustaining interoperability and preserving the photographic images.