Technology

Members of OASIS Open, the global open source and standards organization, have approved the Open Document Format (ODF) for Office Applications V1.4 as an OASIS Standard, the organization’s highest level of ratification. ODF V1.4 improves developer documentation, adds new features, and maintains full backward compatibility.

The release of ODF V1.4 coincides with the 20th anniversary of ODF as an OASIS Standard. Over two decades, ODF has served as a vendor-neutral, royalty-free format for office documents, ensuring that files remain readable, editable, and interoperable across platforms. Governments and international organizations, including NATO, the European Commission, and countries across multiple continents, have adopted ODF for document exchange.

“ODF V1.4 is the effort to evolve the ODF format to its newer challenges, adding relevant clarification and additions to the existing ODF V1.3,” said Patrick Durusau, OpenDocument TC co-chair. “We are pushing hard to meet expectations of the Office software industry.”

OpenDocument V1.4 contains enhancements in accessibility, professional document formatting, and advanced functionality across text documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Improvements include better support for assistive technologies, enhanced visual design capabilities, and expanded features for data analysis and technical documentation. These updates strengthen OpenDocument’s role as a comprehensive solution for modern workplace productivity and inclusive document creation.

“ODF provides a vendor-neutral foundation for office productivity and collaboration worldwide. With V1.4, the standard continues to evolve, supporting cloud collaboration, richer multimedia, and standardized security,” said Svante Schubert, OpenDocument TC co-chair. “The format will remain reliable across platforms for years to come. Looking ahead, ODF is moving beyond document exchange toward standardized, semantic change-based collaboration — enabling precise, meaningful sharing of interoperable changes across platforms.”