iCalendarstandardin

The iCalendar standard, often abbreviated as iCal, is a widely adopted internet standard for representing and exchanging calendar and scheduling information. It is defined by RFC 2445 and its successors. The format is plain text and is designed to be human-readable and machine-parseable. iCalendar data is typically exchanged using the MIME type text/calendar.

The core of iCalendar is the iCalendar object, which contains a series of properties. These properties describe events, to-do items, journal entries, and time zone information. Key properties include summary (a brief description), location, start and end times, recurrence rules, and status. The standard allows for the creation of complex scheduling information, such as recurring meetings, reminders, and invitations.

Many popular applications and services support the iCalendar format. This includes desktop calendar clients like Apple's Calendar and Microsoft Outlook, as well as web-based calendars like Google Calendar. When you export or share a calendar event from these applications, you are often using the iCalendar format. This interoperability allows users to share scheduling information across different platforms and applications seamlessly. For example, an event created in one calendar application can be imported into another by simply opening an iCalendar file (.ics) or subscribing to an iCalendar feed. The standard's widespread adoption has made it a de facto method for calendar data exchange on the internet.