The following is a list of document markup languages. You may also find the List of markup languages of interest.

Well-known document markup languages

HyperText Markup Language Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It defines the content and structure of web content. It is often assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheet ...

(HTML) – an

ad hoc ''Ad hoc'' is a List of Latin phrases, Latin phrase meaning literally for this. In English language, English, it typically signifies a solution designed for a specific purpose, problem, or task rather than a Generalization, generalized solution ...

markup language that was originally created for the

World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW or simply the Web) is an information system that enables Content (media), content sharing over the Internet through user-friendly ways meant to appeal to users beyond Information technology, IT specialists and hobbyis ...

, took inspiration from the metalanguage

SGML The Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML; International Organization for Standardization, ISO 8879:1986) is a standard for defining generalized markup languages for documents. ISO 8879 Annex A.1 states that generalized markup is "based on t ...

, and inspired many other markup languages * Keyhole Markup Language (KML/KMZ) – an

XML Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing data. It defines a set of rules for encoding electronic document, documents in a format that is both human-readable and Machine-r ...

-based markup language used to exchange geographic information, originally, for use with

Google Earth Google Earth is a web mapping, web and computer program created by Google that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satelli ...

and, now also, other map programs * Markdown – a simple,

plain text In computing, plain text is a loose term for data (e.g. file contents) that represent only characters of readable material but not its graphical representation nor other objects ( floating-point numbers, images, etc.). It may also include a lim ...

markup language with multiple implementations, popular on blogs and content management systems * Mathematical Markup Language (MathML) – a part of the

HTML5 HTML5 (Hypertext Markup Language 5) is a markup language used for structuring and presenting hypertext documents on the World Wide Web. It was the fifth and final major HTML version that is now a retired World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommend ...

standard, an XML-based markup language used to describe mathematical notations as well as capturing their structure and content, intended to integrate mathematical formulae in the World Wide Web and other documents * Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) – an XML-based vector image format for defining two-dimensional graphics that has support for animations and interactive content *

TeX Tex, TeX, TEX, may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tex (nickname), a list of people and fictional characters with the nickname * Tex Earnhardt (1930–2020), U.S. businessman * Joe Tex (1933–1982), stage name of American soul singer ...

LaTeX Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latices are found in nature, but synthetic latices are common as well. In nature, latex is found as a wikt:milky, milky fluid, which is present in 10% of all floweri ...

– a format for describing complex types and page layouts that is often used for mathematical, technical, and academic publications *

Wiki markup A wiki ( ) is a form of hypertext publication on the internet which is Collaborative editing, collaboratively edited and managed by its audience directly through a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages that can either be edit ...

– one of a number of often lightweight markup languages used on

wiki A wiki ( ) is a form of hypertext publication on the internet which is collaboratively edited and managed by its audience directly through a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages that can either be edited by the public or l ...

s such as

Wikipedia Wikipedia is a free content, free Online content, online encyclopedia that is written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and the wiki software MediaWiki. Founded by Jimmy Wales and La ...

or WikiWikiWeb * Extensible 3D (X3D) – a set of graphics file formats for declaratively representing

3D computer graphics 3D computer graphics, sometimes called Computer-generated imagery, CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional Computer-generated imagery, computer graphics, are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian coor ...

that has support for interactive, network-capable content * Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML) – a markup language that mirrors HTML, written in the XML syntax ** XHTML Basic – a subset of XHTML for simple (typically mobile, handheld) devices, meant to replace the Wireless Markup Language (WML) and Compact HTML (C-HTML) markup languages, as well as XHTML's own Mobile Profile (XHTML MP)

Metalanguages

Standard Generalized Markup Language The Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML; ISO 8879:1986) is a standard for defining generalized markup languages for documents. ISO 8879 Annex A.1 states that generalized markup is "based on two postulates": * Declarative: Markup should de ...

(SGML) – a metalanguage used to describe markup languages, of which XML and

DocBook DocBook is a Semantics (computer science), semantic markup language for technical documentation. It was originally intended for writing technical documents related to computer hardware and software, but it can be used for any other sort of docume ...

, as well as versions of HTML prior to

adhere to *

Extensible Markup Language Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. The Wor ...

(XML) – now the base of hundreds of other markup languages and document formats, an application and more restrictive subset of SGML that was designed to be easier to implement than a full SGML parser

Lesser-known document markup languages

(including some lightweight markup languages) *

ABC notation ABC notation is a shorthand form of musical notation for computers. In basic form it uses the letter notation with –, –, and , to represent the corresponding notes and rests, along with other elements used to place added value on these – ...

– markup language for music scores in pure text * Amigaguide – the Amiga hypertext documentation format, including multimedia support * AsciiDoc – plaintext markup language similar to Markdown * Chemical Markup Language (CML) * Compact HyperText Markup Language (C-HTML) – used for some mobile phones * Computable Document Format – used for interactive technical documents * ConTeXt – a modular, structured formatting language based on TeX * Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) – modular open free format for technical and specialized documents *

– format for technical (but not only) manuals and documentation * Encoded Archival Description (EAD) *

Enriched text Enriched text is a formatted text format for email, defined by the IETF in RFC 1896 and associated with the text/enriched MIME type which is defined in RFC 1563. Format It is "intended to facilitate the wider interoperation of simple enriche ...

– for formatting e-mail text * GML ** Generalized Markup Language (GML) – the Document Composition Facility (DCF) product provides GMLSS, a starter set of GML tags implemented as a set of SCRIPT/VS macros. ** Geography Markup Language (GML) ** Gesture Markup Language (GML) ** Graffiti Markup Language (GML) * GNU TeXmacs format – used by the GNU TeXmacs document preparation system * Guide Markup Language (GuideML) – used by the ''Hitchhiker's Guide'' site * Handheld Device Markup Language (HDML) – designed for smartphones and handheld computers * Help Markup Language (HelpML) * Hypermedia/Time-based Structuring Language (HyTime) * HyperTeX – for including hyperlinks in TeX (and LaTeX) documents * Information Presentation Facility (IPF) – a system for presenting online help and hypertext on

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

OS/2 OS/2 is a Proprietary software, proprietary computer operating system for x86 and PowerPC based personal computers. It was created and initially developed jointly by IBM and Microsoft, under the leadership of IBM software designer Ed Iacobucci, ...

systems, and the default help file format used by the cross-platform fpGUI Toolkit project * Journal Article Tag Suite (JATS) – a NISO standard of XML used to describe and publish STEM scholarly journal articles * LilyPond – a system for music notation * LinuxDoc – used by the Linux Documentation Project * Lout – a document formatting functional programming language, similar in style to LaTeX *

Maker Interchange Format Adobe FrameMaker is a document processor designed for writing and editing large or complex documents, including structured documents. It was originally developed by Frame Technology Corporation, which was bought by Adobe Systems, Adobe. Overvie ...

(MIF) * Microsoft Assistance Markup Language (MAML) * Music Encoding Initiative (MEI) * Music Extensible Markup Language (MusicXML) * Open Mathematical Documents (OMDoc) * OpenMath – a markup language for mathematical formulae which can complement MathML * Parameter Value Language – stores mission data in NASA's Planetary Database System * Plain Old Documentation (POD) – a simple, platform-independent documentation tool for

Perl Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Though Perl is not officially an acronym, there are various backronyms in use, including "Practical Extraction and Reporting Language". Perl was developed ...

* Pillar – a markup syntax and associated tools to write and generate documentation written in Pharo * PUB – an early

markup language A markup language is a Encoding, text-encoding system which specifies the structure and formatting of a document and potentially the relationships among its parts. Markup can control the display of a document or enrich its content to facilitate au ...

with scripting support * Remote Telescope Markup Language (RTML) * reStructuredText (reSt) – plaintext platform-independent markup used as Python libraries documentation tool, multiple output formats (HTML, LaTeX, ODT, EPUB, ...) * Retail Template Markup Language (RTML) – e-commerce language which is based on

Lisp Lisp (historically LISP, an abbreviation of "list processing") is a family of programming languages with a long history and a distinctive, fully parenthesized Polish notation#Explanation, prefix notation. Originally specified in the late 1950s, ...

Revisable-Form Text Document Content Architecture, or DCA for short, is a standard developed by IBM for text documents in the early 1980s. DCA was used on Mainframe computer, mainframe and IBM i systems and formed the basis of DisplayWrite's file format. DCA was late ...

(RFT) – part of

's Document Content Architecture to allow transfer of formatted documents to other systems * S1000D – international specification for technical documentation related to commercial or military; aerospace, sea or land; vehicles or equipment * Scribble – Markup language based on Racket *

Scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of Printing press, automatic printing. The work of scribes can involve copying manuscripts and other texts as well as ...

– Brian Reid's seminal markup language * Script – early

markup language on which GML is built * Semantic, Extensible, Computational, Styled, Tagged markup language (SECST) – a more expressive and semantic alternative to Markdown that also transpiles to HTML * Structured Information, Serialized Units (SiSU) – generalized markup language with several output formats * SKiCal – a machine-readable format for the interchange of enhanced yellow-page directory listings * Skriv – lightweight markup language * Texinfo – GNU documentation format *

Text Encoding Initiative The Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) is a text-centric community of practice in the academic field of digital humanities, operating continuously since the 1980s. The community currently runs a mailing list, meetings and conference series, and ma ...

(TEI) – guidelines for text encoding in the humanities, social sciences and linguistics *

Textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...

– plaintext XHTML web text * Time Management Markup Language (TMML) – for Time Management and rarely used for mobile alarm in 2008 * Typesetter roff (troff), GNU troff (groff) * Universal Document Output (UDO) – a lightweight markup language * Wireless Markup Language (WML), Wireless TV Markup Language (WTVML) * Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML) – an XML based user interface markup language * Xupl – a C-style equivalent to XML

Office document markup languages

* Compound Document Format * Microsoft Office 2003 XML formats – Microsoft's predecessor to the Office Open XML formats * Office Open XML (OOXML) – mainly developed by Microsoft, a standardized, open format for office documents that describes of a number of

XML schema An XML schema is a description of a type of XML document, typically expressed in terms of constraints on the structure and content of documents of that type, above and beyond the basic syntactical constraints imposed by XML itself. These constrai ...

s, including the following: ** SpreadsheetML – a schema for representing spreadsheets and charts ** PresentationML – a schema for representing presentations ** WordprocessingML – a schema for representing word processing documents ** DrawingML – a supporting schema for representing charts, shapes, pictures, tables, diagrams, and document themes *

OpenDocument The Open Document Format for Office Applications (ODF), also known as OpenDocument, standardized as ISO 26300, is an open file format for word processor, word processing documents, spreadsheets, Presentation program, presentations and ...

(ODF) – a standardized, open format for office documents originally conceived by a Technical Committee (TC) under the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) industry consortium * OpenOffice.org XML – a standardized, open format for office documents and the predecessor of the OpenDocument format * ReportML – report format language originating from

Microsoft Access Microsoft Access is a database management system (DBMS) from Microsoft that combines the relational database, relational Access Database Engine (ACE) with a graphical user interface and software-development tools. It is a member of the Microsof ...

that, as of the 2016 edition, is not yet a part of Office Open XML standard *

Rich Text Format ) As an example, the following RTF code would be rendered as follows: This is some bold text. Character encoding A standard RTF file can only consist of 7-bit ASCII characters, but can use escape sequences to encode other characters. ...

(RTF) – though not a markup language per se, since it was never meant for intuitive and easy typing, a Microsoft format for exchanging documents with other vendors' applications * Uniform Office Format (UOF) – an open format for office documents that is being harmonised with OpenDocument

References

{{Document markup languages * Document markup languages

Well-known document markup languages

Metalanguages

Lesser-known document markup languages

Office document markup languages

See also

References