XMLformaten

XML formats are standardized ways of encoding information using the Extensible Markup Language (XML). They rely on XML syntax and typically define a specific set of elements, attributes, and semantics through a schema or vocabulary. This makes XML formats suitable for data exchange, configuration, and document publishing across different systems and platforms.

Common XML formats include RSS and Atom for feeds, SVG for scalable vector graphics, XHTML for web documents, MathML for mathematical notation, DocBook and TEI for scholarly and publishing workflows, and OpenDocument Format (ODF) for office documents. Many application protocols also use XML, such as SOAP for web services. The same XML dialect can be adapted to specialized domains by using namespaces to avoid element name conflicts.

Schemas and validation play a central role in XML formats. A format may be defined by a DTD (Document Type Definition), an XML Schema (XSD), RELAX NG, or Schematron. Validation checks whether an XML document is well-formed and conforms to the rules of its schema, enabling reliable data interchange. XML documents are typically processed by parsers using models such as DOM, SAX, or StAX, depending on whether random access or streaming is required.

Technical aspects include character encoding (commonly UTF-8), the XML declaration, and MIME types (for example, application/xml, text/xml, or more specific types like application/rss+xml or image/svg+xml). While XML formats offer extensibility and interoperability, they can be verbose and require dedicated processing tools.