Puneet Varma (Editor)

XLIFF

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Filename extension
  
.xlf

Extended from
  
XML

Internet media type
  
before 2.0: application/x-xliff+xml, 2.0 and after: application/xliff+xml

Latest release
  
2.0 (5 August 2014; 2 years ago (2014-08-05))

XLIFF (XML Localisation Interchange File Format) is an XML-based format created to standardize the way localizable data are passed between tools during a localization process and a common format for CAT tool files. XLIFF was standardized by OASIS in 2002. Its current specification is v2.0 released on 2014-08-05.

Contents

The specification is aimed at the localization industry. It specifies elements and attributes to store content extracted from various original file formats and its corresponding translation. The goal was to abstract the localization skills from the engineering skills related to specific formats such as HTML.

XLIFF forms part of the Open Architecture for XML Authoring and Localization (OAXAL) reference architecture.

Description (XLIFF 1.2)

An XLIFF 1.2 document is composed of one or more <file> elements. Each <file> element corresponds to an original file or source (e.g. database table). A <file> contains the source of the localizable data and, once translated, the corresponding localized data for one, and only one, locale.

Localizable data are stored in <trans-unit> elements. The <trans-unit> element holds a <source> element to store the source text, and a <target> element to store the latest translated text. The <target> elements are not mandatory.

The example below shows an XLIFF document storing text extracted from a Photoshop file (PSD file) and its translation in Japanese:

XLIFF 2.0

The XLIFF Technical Committee is currently at work on XLIFF 2.0. Much feedback has been gathered from XLIFF's user community which will be synthesized and implemented into the next version of the standard. Two of the primary methods include compiling a list of extensions used by XLIFF toolmakers, and compiling a list of XLIFF features supported in each XLIFF tool.

  • Makers of XLIFF tools have taken advantage of XLIFF's extensibility mechanism in order to implement a number of features. By collecting a list of these extension points, and analyzing them for common tasks, the XLIFF TC hopes to improve the XLIFF 2.0 Specification to include mechanisms that will enable the toolmakers to support these features without using extensibility.
  • Makers of XLIFF tools have supported different sets of features in the XLIFF 1.2 Specification. By compiling a list of these features the XLIFF TC hopes to identify areas where the XLIFF 2.0 Specification can be improved to enable toolmakers to more widely support the specification.

    • On May 6, 2014, the XLIFF 2.0 specification was moved to Candidate OASIS Standard.

    On August 6, 2014 the XLIFF 2.0 specification became an OASIS Standard

    Example of XLIFF 2.0 document:

    File manipulation and checking tools

  • The Okapi Framework provides multiple filters that generate XLIFF documents and various components that use XLIFF.
  • Translate Toolkit converts various file formats to XLIFF and provides checking, filtering and manipulation tools for the format.
  • XLIFFChecker is an open source cross-platform tool that verifies the validity of XLIFF files against XML grammars and specifications.
  • Xliff to HTML Converter converts XLIFF files to HTML to facilitate proofreading.
  • The Okapi XLIFF Toolkit is an open-source library to create, read, manipulate, validate and write XLIFF 2.0 document.
  • The Okapi Lynx-Web page validates XLIFF 2.0 documents online.

    • Editors

  • CafeTran Espresso
  • MateCat - MateCat supports XLIFF files both as an input and output format. SDLXLIFF files are supported as input files.
  • memoQ is using MQXLIFF for interoperability and supports several flavours of XLIFF.
  • Memsource - MXLIFF is its native format
  • OmegaT (with Benten) - a cross-platform and open source CAT tool.
  • Pootle - a Web-based localisation platform.
  • SDL Trados Studio - SDLXLIFF is its native format
  • SmartCAT, a cloud-based translation environment.
  • Swordfish Translation Editor - an XLIFF-based cross-platform CAT tool.
  • Transifex
  • Transit NXT
  • Virtaal - an open source CAT tool.
  • Weblate - Web-based translation tool.
  • Wordfast
  • XTM-CAT is a Web server based CAT environment with extensive support for XLIFF (1.0 through to 1.2) as well as an implementation of the OASIS OAXAL architecture.

    • References

    XLIFF Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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