Metaformats

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Whether a format is a metaformat is ultimately a judgment call. There are no definitive answers to questions like: What is the difference between a ''container'' format and a metaformat? Or a [[serialization]] format and a metaformat? Is [[CSV]] a metaformat, or is it a database or a spreadsheet format? Should [[TIFF]] and [[PDF]] be considered to be metaformats, given all the subformats of them that have been defined?
 
Whether a format is a metaformat is ultimately a judgment call. There are no definitive answers to questions like: What is the difference between a ''container'' format and a metaformat? Or a [[serialization]] format and a metaformat? Is [[CSV]] a metaformat, or is it a database or a spreadsheet format? Should [[TIFF]] and [[PDF]] be considered to be metaformats, given all the subformats of them that have been defined?
  
Another reasonable, but different, definition of ''metaformat'' is "a format that describes other formats".
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Another reasonable, but different, definition of ''metaformat'' is "a format that describes other formats". For those formats, see [[Schema formats]].
  
 
== Formats that implement other formats ==
 
== Formats that implement other formats ==
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* [[Binary XML]]
 
* [[Boxes/atoms format]]
 
* [[Boxes/atoms format]]
 
* [[EBML]]
 
* [[EBML]]
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* [[Hamster archive]]
 
* [[IFF]]
 
* [[IFF]]
 
* [[ISO Base Media File Format]]
 
* [[ISO Base Media File Format]]
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* [[JSON]]
 
* [[Microsoft Compound File]]
 
* [[Microsoft Compound File]]
 
* [[ODL (NASA Object Description Language)]]
 
* [[ODL (NASA Object Description Language)]]
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* [[Palm OS Database]]
 
* [[RIFF]]
 
* [[RIFF]]
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* [[RIFX]]
 
* [[SGML]]
 
* [[SGML]]
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* [[Softdisk Publishing UDF files]]
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* [[SQLite]]
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* [[XCDL]] (part of XCL project)
 
* [[XML]]
 
* [[XML]]
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* [[ZIP]]
  
== Formats that describe other formats ==
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== Other "formats about formats" ==
* [[BFD]] (Binary Format Description)
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* [[Format Policy Registry]] (FPR) - used by Archivematica to indicate how to handle file formats
* [[DFDL]] (Data Format Description Language) - a file format for describing file formats (how meta can you get?)
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* [[XMDP]] (XHTML Meta Data Profiles)
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* [[XML Schema Definition]]
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Related: [[File identification software]], [[Format validation and analysis software]]
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See also [[Schema formats]].
 
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== Miscellaneous / Uncategorized ==
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* [[ZIP]] - Was not intended to be a metaformat, but is sometimes used as one, such as with [[Jar]], [[OpenRaster]], and some of the other formats in [[:Category:ZIP based file formats]].
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== Links ==
 
== Links ==
 
* [http://www.w3.org/standards/webarch/metaformats W3C: Meta formats]
 
* [http://www.w3.org/standards/webarch/metaformats W3C: Meta formats]

Revision as of 23:57, 21 January 2020

File Format
Name Metaformats
Ontology

{{{caption}}}

A metaformat (or meta format) is a generic low-level file format used as a basis for defining high-level file formats.

Whether a format is a metaformat is ultimately a judgment call. There are no definitive answers to questions like: What is the difference between a container format and a metaformat? Or a serialization format and a metaformat? Is CSV a metaformat, or is it a database or a spreadsheet format? Should TIFF and PDF be considered to be metaformats, given all the subformats of them that have been defined?

Another reasonable, but different, definition of metaformat is "a format that describes other formats". For those formats, see Schema formats.

Formats that implement other formats

Other "formats about formats"

See also Schema formats.

Links

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