The OASIS international open standards consortium has announced the approval of the XML Localization Interchange File Format (XLIFF) 2.0. Enabling interoperability between localization tools, XLIFF frees publishers from the difficulty and expense of pre-processing localizable content from proprietary formats. XLIFF 2.0 is now an official OASIS Standard, a status that signifies the highest level of ratification.
XLIFF defines a standard, extensible vocabulary that captures relevant metadata for any point in the lifecycle so that it can then be exchanged between a variety of commercial and open source tools. It supports common software and document data formats and mark-up languages.
"XLIFF is widely regarded as the gold standard for localization. Version 2.0 enhances interoperability and makes the standard even easier to implement," said Bryan Schnabel, chair of the OASIS XLIFF Technical Committee. "XLIFF 2.0 features a modular approach that lets implementers support the core set of required features and choose from a range of optional modules. The mechanics for common localization tasks like segmentation, annotation, and inline have been streamlined. Conformance requirements have been clarified to ensure that compliant XLIFF 2.0 files generated by any tool or process will be accessible by any other tool or process."
A number of tools have been developed by the international community to support the standard, including a test suite, an online validator, and an open source Java Library to create, write, read, and manipulate XLIFF 2.0 documents.
XLIFF 2.0 is offered for implementation on a royalty-free basis. Companies, non-profit groups, governments, academic institutions, and individuals are welcome to participate in the OASIS XLIFF Technical Committee, which continues to advance the standard.
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