A document file format is a text or binary file format for storing documents on a storage media, especially for use by computers. There currently exists a multitude of incompatible document file formats.
A rough consensus has been established that XML is to be the basis for future document file formats. Examples of XML-based open standards are DocBook, XHTML, and, more recently, the ISO/IEC standards OpenDocument (ISO 26300:2006) and Office Open XML (ISO 29500:2008).
In 1993, the ITU-T tried to establish a standard for document file formats, known as the Open Document Architecture (ODA) which was supposed to replace all competing document file formats. It is described in ITU-T documents T.411 through T.421, which are equivalent to ISO 8613. It did not succeed.
Page description languages such as PostScript and PDF have become the de facto standard for documents that a typical user should only be able to create and read, not edit. In 2001, PDF became an international ISO/IEC standard (ISO 15930-1:2001, ISO 19005-1:2005, ISO 32000-1:2008).
HTML is the most used and open international standard and it is also used as document file format. It has also become ISO/IEC standard (ISO 15445:2000).
The default binary file format used by Microsoft Word (.doc) has become widespread de facto standard for office documents, but it is a proprietary format and is not always fully supported by other word processors.
Read more about Document File Format: Common Document File Formats
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—Ellen Terry (1848–1928)
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