open format

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computing: open format

Overview
An open format is a format (i.e. data structure, protocol, or other data standard) which is freely available for software developers and users to make use of without paying any kind of license or usage fee. Open formats are the opposite of proprietary formats, where the format's author has the legal right to refuse to allow others to make use of it.

Most FOSS software uses open formats by default, with support for proprietary formats sometimes available as a separate download (they usually cannot be included in the same download due to license conflict).

Examples of open formats include: HTML, XML, CSS, OGG, FLAC

News

 * 2007-02-21 Minnesota considers open-format state documents