This page contains information on the XML file extension (Extensible Markup Language), a popular document file format
| File extension | .xml |
| Category | Document File |
| Description | XML is a file type containing a markup language. This is readable by both a human user and an application. Designed to be a store data, rather than display data, it is a platform independent language and allows users to define their own tags. Its portability and vendor independence have made this a hugely popular file format, particularly online. XML allows structure to be given to data which allows other applications to interpret and process the data within an XML file. XML is considered as important to the web as HTML. |
| Actions | View other document file formats |
| Technical Details | All .XML files contain a basic structure within which users can define their own tags. Each file starts with what is called the XML declaration. This defines the version and encoding within the file itself. The file must then define a root element, also known as the parent element. The root element then has child element(s). All tags in an XML file must have a corresponding closing tag. XML files can contain comments, entity references and attributes. Applications can then be developed to extract the values within a file and represent them as desired. |
| Associated programs | Chrome Firefox Microsoft Internet Explorer Microsoft Office InfoPath Notepad Oxygen XML Editor Safari |
| Developed by | World Wide Web Consortium |
| MIME type | application/xml application/x-xml text/xml |
| Useful links | More information on XML XML Tutorials from W3Schools Official documentation from W3C |
