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Data format

XFDF converter

An .xfdf file is the XML expression of PDF form data: a root <xfdf> element containing a <fields> tree in which each <field name="..."> holds a <value>. It carries the same information as FDF in a form that ordinary XML tooling can read.

Private for supported formats — processed in your browser

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Runs on your device

Drop XFDF files here

Batch files can each use a different output. Nothing uploads for local conversions.

Working inputs include camera RAW, browser-local audio/video, PDF, CBZ/CBR comics, office documents, ebooks, markup, 3D models, structured text, images, and archives.

Where XFDF comes from

Adobe published XFDF around 2001 as FDF's XML successor, and it was later standardised as ISO 19444-1. The motivation was integration: web services and enterprise systems could already parse XML, whereas FDF required PDF-specific code. It also carries annotations, which is how PDF review comments are exported and re-imported between tools.

How XFDF works

  • Root element is <xfdf> in the http://ns.adobe.com/xfdf/ namespace, with fields under a single <fields> element.
  • Fields nest to express dotted names, so a child <field name="city"> inside <field name="address"> is address.city.
  • An <f href="..."> element points at the source PDF, with the same privacy caveat as FDF's /F entry.
  • Annotations — highlights, notes, stamps — can travel in the same file, which is what makes XFDF a review-exchange format as well as a data one.
  • Being XML, it is exposed to entity-expansion attacks unless document types and entities are refused outright.

When to use XFDF

  • Exchanging PDF form data with web services and enterprise systems
  • Exporting and re-importing PDF review comments between reviewers
  • Converting form submissions to JSON for storage or analysis
  • Migrating legacy FDF archives to a format ordinary tooling can read

Strengths and limitations

Strengths

  • Plain XML, readable and processable without PDF-specific libraries
  • An ISO standard, unlike most of the surrounding PDF form tooling
  • Carries annotations as well as field values

Limitations

  • Considerably more verbose than FDF for the same data
  • XML parsing brings entity and document-type risks that must be closed off explicitly
  • Annotation support varies between readers

Compatibility

Adobe Acrobat, PDF.js-based viewers, PDFtron, iText and most PDF SDKs read XFDF. Novus Convert parses it locally with document types, entities and external file references all blocked, and converts to FDF and JSON. Files containing submit, goto or launch actions are refused.

The href document reference is detected and reported as omitted rather than followed or copied.

Convert XFDF to another format

Convert other formats to XFDF