Open format
Encyclopedia : O : OP : OPE : Open format
An open format is a published specification for storing digital data, usually maintained by a non-proprietary standards organization, and free of legal restrictions on use. For example, an open format must be implementable by both proprietary and free/open source software, using the typical licenses used by each. In contrast to open formats, proprietary formats are controlled and defined by private interests. Open formats are a subset of open standards.
The primary goal of open formats is to guarantee long-term access to data without current or future uncertainty with regard to legal rights or technical specification. A common secondary goal of open formats is to enable competition, instead of allowing a vendor's control over a proprietary format to inhibit use of competing products. Governments have increasingly shown an interest in open format issues.
Open source and open formats
The relationship between open formats and open source software is frequently misunderstood. Many proprietary software products readily use open formats, and open source software can often use proprietary formats. For example, HTML, the familiar open format markup language of the World Wide Web, creates the foundation for proprietary web browsers like Microsoft's Internet Explorer as well as open source software browsers like Mozilla Firefox. Meanwhile, OpenOffice.org, the open source desktop office application, can manipulate proprietary DOC formats from Microsoft, as well as open formats like OpenDocument. Finally, some companies have published specifications of their formats, making it possible to implement readers or writers for different platforms by different vendors, like Adobe's PDF, or Microsoft's RTF. However, some proprietary formats are covered by some form of restrictive requirements that may forbid open source software implementations (at least under certain licenses common for them, such as the GNU General Public License). According to some critics, such formats inhibit competition.Examples of open formats
- OASIS OpenDocument Format for Office Applications (for office documents)
- LaTeX (a document markup language)
- DVI (a page description language)
- TXT (an unformatted text format)
- HTML/XHTML (a markup language)
- OpenEXR (an image format)
- PNG (an image format)
- SVG (an image format)
- FLAC (an audio format)
- Ogg - Ogg Vorbis (an audio format) & Ogg Theora (a video format)
- XVID (a video format)
- XML (a markup language)
See also
- Open system
- Open standard
- OpenDocument summary of the new OASIS Opendocument format (ODF)
- Vendor lock-in
- Embrace, extend and extinguish
- Network effect
- Free file format
- Free software
External links
- [OpenOffice] software implementing open formats
- [OpenFormats]
- [Massachusetts Information Technology Division]
- [Free Knowledge requires Free Software and Free File Formats] by Jimmy Wales
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