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XLF converter

A .xlf file is an XLIFF document — the OASIS XML standard for moving translation work between tools. Each translatable string becomes a trans-unit holding a source element and, once translated, a target element, wrapped in a file element that records the source and target languages.

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Drop XLF 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 XLF comes from

XLIFF was created in 2002 by a group of localisation vendors and software companies who were tired of every translation tool inventing its own interchange format. Version 1.2 arrived in 2008 and became the de facto standard the industry actually deploys; 2.0 followed in 2014 with a cleaner module-based design. The .xlf extension is used for both, which is a persistent source of confusion — the version attribute on the root element is the only reliable indicator.

How XLF works

  • The root xliff element declares a version; file elements carry source-language and target-language attributes.
  • In 1.2 each string is a trans-unit with an id, a source, an optional target and optional note elements.
  • Translation state is expressed on the target's state attribute — new, needs-translation, translated, signed-off — which is how review workflow travels between tools.
  • Inline markup (placeholders, bold runs, variables) is represented by g, x, bpt and ept elements so formatting survives translation.
  • Because it is XML, an XLIFF file can declare a doctype or external entities; a parser that resolves them is an information-disclosure risk.

When to use XLF

  • Sending strings to a translation agency and getting reviewed work back
  • Moving a project between translation management systems without losing review state
  • Round-tripping strings out of a proprietary resource format and back again
  • Archiving a translation in a specified, validatable form

Strengths and limitations

Strengths

  • A real published standard rather than a vendor convention
  • Expresses review state and inline formatting that simpler formats cannot
  • Validatable with ordinary XML tooling

Limitations

  • Verbose — several lines of markup per string
  • 1.2 and 2.0 share an extension but not a schema, so a valid file can still be rejected
  • Tools disagree on which optional elements they honour, so round trips can quietly drop metadata

Compatibility

Every serious translation management system reads XLIFF 1.2, and it is the safest common denominator for handing work to a vendor. Novus Convert reads both 1.2 trans-units and 2.0 units through one bounded parser, rejects documents carrying a doctype or custom entities outright, and converts to and from the other localization formats locally.

Unit identifiers, source and target text and the declared source/target languages are preserved. Translation state, notes and inline placeholder markup are not carried into flat key-value formats, which have nowhere to record them.

Convert XLF to another format

Convert other formats to XLF