SCORM vs LTI® vs xAPI vs cmi5
These four get compared as though you have to pick one. You mostly do not. They answer different questions, and the reason they end up on the same shortlist is that all four appear in the same procurement documents.
The question that actually separates them is: where does the content live and run?
The short version
| What it is | Where the content runs | Best for | |
|---|---|---|---|
| SCORM | A packaging format | Uploaded into the LMS | Fixed courseware you distribute |
| LTI® | A launch protocol | On your servers | A hosted application |
| xAPI | An activity data format | Anywhere | Detailed analytics |
| cmi5 | A launch profile for xAPI | Either | Packaged content with richer tracking |
SCORM: content you hand over
SCORM is a zip file with a manifest. You build the content, package it, and an administrator uploads it into their LMS. From then on the LMS hosts it, plays it, and tracks completion and a score through a JavaScript API the content calls in the browser.
It works nearly everywhere, which is its real strength. It is also from 2004, runs entirely client-side, and stops at completion and one score.
The structural consequence is the one that matters: you have given the content away. Fixing a typo means shipping a new package and asking every institution to re-upload it. If your product is a live application with a server and a database, it cannot be zipped up at all.
LTI®: content you keep
LTI® inverts that. Nothing is uploaded. The LMS holds a link, and when a learner clicks it they are launched into an application you host, with a signed token telling you who they are and which course they came from.
You keep the code, the data and the deployment. You can ship a fix on a Tuesday and every institution has it. In exchange you are running a service, and you have to implement the protocol or use something that implements it for you.
LTI® also carries data back: grades, the roster, and content selection.
If your product is software rather than courseware, this is the one. No amount of SCORM will make a hosted application into a zip file.
xAPI: what happened, in detail
xAPI is not a launch mechanism. It is a format for recording activity as statements — actor, verb, object — sent to a learning record store.
It exists because SCORM's tracking is thin. "Completed, scored 0.8" says almost nothing; xAPI can record that a learner watched to 4:12, rewound twice and failed the third question. It also works outside an LMS entirely, which is the point for simulations, mobile apps and on-the-job activity.
What it does not define is how the learner got there, or how a mark reaches a gradebook. That is why it pairs naturally with LTI®: launch and grade over LTI®, detailed telemetry over xAPI.
cmi5: the missing half of xAPI
cmi5 fills that gap for packaged content. It specifies how an LMS launches a piece of content, how the session is identified, and which statements the content must send for the LMS to record a result.
Its specification describes it as SCORM's successor: the same launch-and-report model, with xAPI carrying the data. Adoption is real but much narrower than SCORM's, so it is worth checking your customers' platforms before committing.
Choosing
Your product is a hosted application. Use LTI®. The alternatives assume your content can be handed over as files.
You distribute fixed courseware and need it to work everywhere. SCORM, still, on support alone. Add xAPI if you need better analytics than completion and a score.
You distribute courseware and your customers' platforms support cmi5. cmi5, for the richer tracking. Check first.
You need detailed learning analytics. xAPI, alongside whichever of the above handles the launch.
You are being asked for several in an RFP. That is common and usually reasonable — a platform supporting SCORM and LTI® is covering both packaged content and hosted tools. Worth asking which of their use cases each is for.
A note on how these are usually compared
Most SCORM-versus-LTI® comparisons are written by vendors who sell one of them, including this one. The check that cuts through it: ask where the content runs. If the answer is "on the LMS's servers", you are in SCORM's territory. If it is "on ours", you are in LTI®'s. Everything else follows from that.
Common questions
Is LTI® replacing SCORM?
No. They solve different problems. SCORM packages content so an LMS can host and play it; LTI® launches a user out to an application you run. A product can support both, and many do.
Which should I use for a hosted web application?
LTI®. SCORM assumes your content can be zipped up and uploaded, which a live application with a server and a database cannot be.
Can I use LTI® and xAPI together?
Yes, and it is a common combination. LTI® handles the launch and the grade; xAPI records detailed activity to a learning record store for analytics.
Is SCORM obsolete?
Not in practice. It is old and its limits are well known, but it is supported nearly everywhere and remains the safest format for distributing packaged courseware.
Next
- What is LTI® 1.3?
- How to add LTI® 1.3 to your application
- The glossary — every term here, defined
