The Open Document Format (ODF) is an open standard format for office documents, which offers a vendor-independent, royalty-free way to encode text documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and more.
However, to realise its potential, it is necessary to understand the concepts of compliance – the degree to which an implementation adheres to ODF specifications – and interoperability – the ability to exchange and view ODF files without loss of fidelity or functionality across different applications and platforms.…

LibreOffice stands out as a privacy-respecting open source office suite. Unlike proprietary alternatives, the software is designed with privacy, user control and transparency in mind.

(This is part of The Document Foundation’s Annual Report for 2024 – we’ll post the full version here soon.)

Introduction

Concerns about end user privacy in the digital world have grown significantly over the past two decades, with and increasing awareness of data collection, user tracking and online surveillance.…

When we create or share a document – whether a simple text, complex spreadsheet or professional presentation – we make a choice that goes far beyond the file extension. This is because the format gives us, or takes away, control over the content.

This post compares the Open Document Format (ODF) with proprietary formats such as DOCX, XLSX and PPTX.…