Proprietary file

format

A proprietary file format is a file format of a company, organization, or individual that

contains data that is ordered and stored according to a particular encoding-scheme,
designed by the company or organization to be secret, such that the decoding and
interpretation of this stored data is easily accomplished only with particular software or
hardware that the company itself has developed. The specification of the data encoding
format is not released, or underlies non-disclosure agreements. A proprietary format can
also be a file format whose encoding is in fact published, but is restricted through
licences such that only the company itself or licensees may use it. In contrast, an open
format is a file format that is published and free to be used by everybody.

Proprietary formats are typically controlled by a company or organization for its own
benefits, and the restriction of its use by others is ensured through patents or as trade
secrets. It is thus intended to give the licence holder exclusive control of the technology
to the (current or future) exclusion of others.[1] Typically such restrictions attempt to
prevent reverse engineering, though reverse engineering of file formats for the purposes
of interoperability is generally believed to be legal by those who practice it. Legal
positions differ according to each country's laws related to, among other things, software
patents.

Because control over a format may be exerted in varying ways and in varying degrees,
and documentation of a format may deviate in many different ways from the ideal, there
is not necessarily a clear black/white distinction between open and proprietary formats.
Nor is there any universally recognized "bright line" separating the two. The lists of
prominent formats below illustrate this point, distinguishing "open" (i.e. publicly
documented) proprietary formats from "closed" (undocumented) proprietary formats and
including a number of cases which are classed by some observers as open and by others
as proprietary.
Privacy, ownership, risk
and freedom
One of the contentious issues surrounding the use of proprietary formats is that of
ownership of created content. If the information is stored in a way which the user's
software provider tries to keep secret, the user may own the information by virtue of
having created it, but they have no way to retrieve it except by using a version of the
original software which produced the file. Without a standard file format or reverse
engineered converters, users cannot share data with people using competing software.
The fact that the user depends on a particular brand of software to retrieve the
information stored in a proprietary format file increases barriers of entry for competing
software and may contribute to vendor lock-in concept.

The issue of risk comes about because proprietary formats are less likely to be publicly
documented and therefore less future proof.[2] If the software firm owning right to that
format stops making software which can read it then those who had used the format in
the past may lose all information in those files. This is particularly common with formats
that were not widely adopted. However, even ubiquitous formats such as Microsoft Word
cannot be fully reverse-engineered.

Prominent proprietary
formats

Open proprietary formats

AAC – an open standard, but owned

by Via Licensing[3]
 GEDCOM – an open specification for
genealogy data exchange, owned by
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
day Saints
MP3 – an open standard, but subject
to patents in some countries[4]

Closed proprietary formats

CDR – (non-documented)
CorelDraw's native format primarily
used for vector graphic drawings
DWG – (non-documented) AutoCAD
drawing
MAX – (non-documented) 3ds Max
PSD – (documented[5]) Adobe
Photoshop's native image format
RAR – (partially documented) archive
and compression file format owned
 by Alexander L. Roshal[6]
WMA – a closed format, owned by
Microsoft[7]

Controversial

RTF – a formatted text format

(proprietary,[8][9][10][11] published
specification, defined and maintained
only by Microsoft)
SWF – Adobe Flash format (formerly
closed/undocumented, now partially
or completely open)
XFA – Adobe XML Forms
Architecture, used in PDF files
(published specification by Adobe,
required but not documented in the
PDF ISO 32000-1 standard; controlled
and maintained only by Adobe[12][13])
 ZIP – a base version of this data
compression and archive file format
is in the public domain, but newer
versions have some patented
features[14][15][16]

Formerly proprietary

GIF – CompuServe's Graphics

Interchange Format (the
specification's royalty-free licence
requires implementers to give
CompuServe credit as owner of the
format; separately, patents covering
certain aspects of the specification
were held by Unisys until they expired
in 2004)
PDF – Adobe's Portable Document
Format (open since 2008 - ISO
32000-1), but there are still some
technologies indispensable for the
application of ISO 32000-1 that are
defined only by Adobe and remain
proprietary (e.g. Adobe XML Forms
Architecture, Adobe
JavaScript).[17][18][19]
DOC – Microsoft Word Document
(formerly closed/undocumented,
now Microsoft Open Specification
Promise)
XLS – Microsoft Excel spreadsheet
file format (formerly
closed/undocumented, now
Microsoft Open Specification
Promise)
PPT – Microsoft PowerPoint
Presentation file format (formerly
closed/undocumented, now
 Microsoft Open Specification
Promise)

See also

Open file format

De facto standard
Dominant design

References

1. "Mirriam-Webster's Online Dictionary"

(http://www.merriam-webster.com/dict
ionary/proprietary) . Retrieved
2008-07-11.
2. " "Sustainability" Digital Preservation"
(http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/for
mats/sustain/sustain.shtml#disclosur
e) . Retrieved 2008-07-08.
3. "AAC License Fees" (https://web.archiv
e.org/web/20101031185822/http://w
ww.vialicensing.com/aac_licensefee.a
spx) . Archived from the original (htt
p://www.vialicensing.com/aac_license
fee.aspx) on 2010-10-31. Retrieved
2010-10-04.
4. "Ubuntu's commitment to only include
completely free software by default
means that proprietary media formats
are not configured 'out of the
box'...including DVD, MP3, QuickTime,
Windows Media, and more."
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/R
estrictedFormats . See also "Which
proprietary formats should be
avoided :: Openformats.org" (https://w
eb.archive.org/web/20100328132825/
http://www.openformats.org/en5) .
Archived from the original (http://www.
openformats.org/en5) on 2010-03-28.
Retrieved 2010-03-29.
5. "Adobe Photoshop File Formats
Specification" (http://www.adobe.com/
devnet-apps/photoshop/fileformatasht
ml/) . Adobe. Retrieved 2014-10-09.
6. The RAR Archiver EULA (End user
licence agreement) is embedded in
installation files - [1] (https://www.rarla
bs.com/download.htm) - Quotation:
"Neither RAR binary code, WinRAR
binary code, UnRAR source or UnRAR
binary code may be used or reverse
engineered to re-create the RAR
compression algorithm, which is
proprietary, without written permission
of the author."
7. [2] (http://www.microsoft.com/window
s/windowsmedia/licensing/final.aspx#
WindowsMediaAudioStandardVersion_
Final)
8. "tutorial: Rich Text Format (RTF)" (http
s://web.archive.org/web/20120630142
357/http://accessproject.colostate.ed
u/udl/modules/word/tut_rtf.cfm) .
Colorado State University. Archived
from the original (http://accessproject.
colostate.edu/udl/modules/word/tut_r
tf.cfm) on 2012-06-30. Retrieved
2010-03-13.
9. "4.3 Non-HTML file formats" (https://w
eb.archive.org/web/20100218033318/
http://archive.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/e-g
overnment/resources/handbook/html/
4-3.asp) . e-Government Unit. May
2002. Archived from the original (htt
p://archive.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/e-gove
rnment/resources/handbook/html/4-3.
asp) on February 18, 2010. Retrieved
2010-03-13.
10. Novell (2004-11-12), Novell Files
WordPerfect Antitrust Lawsuit against
Microsoft (http://www.novell.com/new
s/press/archive/2004/11/complaint.p
df) (PDF), retrieved 2010-03-13
11. "The Novell Antitrust Complaint (as
text) & A Law About Antitrust and
Standards Writing" (https://web.archiv
e.org/web/20051230163940/http://gl.
scofacts.org/gl-20041115214025458.
html) . 2004-11-17. Archived from the
original (http://gl.scofacts.org/gl-2004
1115214025458.html) on 2005-12-30.
Retrieved 2010-03-13.
12. "Gnu PDF - PDF Knowledge - Forms
Data Format" (https://web.archive.org/
web/20130101054615/http://www.gnu
pdf.org/Forms_Data_Format) .
Archived from the original (http://gnup
df.org/Forms_Data_Format) on 2013-
01-01. Retrieved 2010-02-19.
"Apparently Adobe introduced
something newer called XFA (XML
Forms Architecture) which doesn't
seem standardized."
13. A Quick Introduction to Acrobat Forms
Technology (http://www.appligent.co
m/files/faq-whatisthedifferencebetwee
nacroformaxfa/Acroforms%2BWhitePa
per.pdf) (PDF), 2006-05-14, retrieved
2010-02-19, "Adobe's XFA Forms is a
closed standard that competes with
the fully open W3C Xforms standard."
14. ".ZIP Application Note" (http://www.pk
ware.com/support/zip-app-note) .
Retrieved 2010-12-24.
15. "Latest OOX-ODF FUD-Spat: States
Prepare to Ban Zip and PDF Files" (htt
p://orcmid.com/blog/2007/02/latest-o
ox-odf-fud-spat-states-prepare.asp) .
Retrieved 2010-12-24.
16. "PKZip Must Open Up" (http://brianlivin
gston.com/eweek/article2/0,4149,125
7562,00.html) . Retrieved 2010-12-24.
17. Duff Johnson (2010-06-10), Is PDF an
open standard? - Adobe Reader is the
de facto Standard, not PDF (http://ww
w.planetpdf.com/enterprise/article.as
p?ContentID=Is_PDF_an_open_standar
d&page=1) , retrieved 2014-01-19
18. Leonard Rosenthol, Adobe Systems
(2012). "PDF and Standards" (https://w
eb.archive.org/web/20130902000323/
http://cdn.parleys.com/p/5148922a03
64bc17fc56c6e5/iSUM2012_00_LRO_
presentation.pdf) (PDF). Archived
from the original (http://cdn.parleys.co
m/p/5148922a0364bc17fc56c6e5/iSU
M2012_00_LRO_presentation.pdf)
(PDF) on 2013-09-02. Retrieved
2013-10-20.
 19. ISO/TC 171/SC 2/WG 8 N 603 -
Meeting Report (http://pdf.editme.co
m/files/pdfREF-meetings/ISO-TC171-S
C2-WG8_N0603_SC2WG8_MtgRept_SL
C.pdf) (PDF), 2011-06-27, "XFA is not
to be ISO standard just yet. ... The
Committee urges Adobe Systems to
submit the XFA Specification, XML
Forms Architecture (XFA), to ISO for
standardization ... The Committee is
concerned about the stability of the
XFA specification ... Part 2 will
reference XFA 3.1"

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