Comparison of document markup languages

The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of document markup languages. Please see the individual markup languages' articles for further information.

General information
See also: Lightweight markup language

Basic general information about the markup languages: creator, version, etc.

Language First public release date Creator Editor Viewer
AsciiDoc 2002 Stuart Rackham Text editor Output to XHTML, HTML, DocBook (which can convert to PDF, EPUB, DVI, LaTeX, roff, and PostScript)
Computable Document Format 2010 Wolfram Research Wolfram Language & Mathematica CDF Player; CDF format can also be embedded in web pages viewable with conventional browsers.
Creole 2007 Text editor Output to HTML, RTF, LaTeX, others; renderers for MFC, others.
Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) 2005 IBM, OASIS Text/XML editor Output to HTML, PDF, CHM, javadoc, others.
DocBook 1992 The Davenport Group, OASIS XML editor Output to HTML, PDF, CHM, javadoc, others.
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) 1998 Berkeley Project Text editor Web browser
Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML) 2000 (January 26) W3C Text/XML editor, HTML editor Web browser
Halibut 1999 Simon Tatham Text editor Output to ASCII text, HTML, PDF, PostScript, Unix man pages, GNU Info, Windows Help (.CHM files), Windows WinHelp (old .HLP files)
HyperText Markup Language (HTML) 1993 Tim Berners-Lee Text editor, HTML editor Web browser
LilyPond 1996 Han-Wen Nienhuys, Jan Nieuwenhuizen Text editor, Scorewriter Output to DVI, PDF, PostScript, PNG, others.
Maker Interchange Format (MIF) 1986 Frame Technology acquired by Adobe Systems in 1995 Text editor, FrameMaker FrameMaker
MakeDoc 2000 Carl Sassenrath Text editor Web browser (XHTML or HTML output)
Markdown 2004 John Gruber and Aaron Swartz Text editor, E-mail client Web browser (XHTML or HTML output), preview in gedit-markdown-plugin
Textile 2002[1] Dean Allen Text editor Web browser (XHTML or HTML output), reference and tester (uses latest PHP-Textile version 3.5.5)
Math Markup Language (MathML) 1999 (July) W3C Text/XML editor, TeX converter Web browser, Word processor
The Music Encoding Initiative (MEI) 1999 The MEI Community XML editor Verovio
Music Extensible Markup Language (MusicXML) 2002 Recordare Scorewriter Scorewriter
Office Open XML (OOXML) 2006 Ecma International, ISO/IEC Office suite Office suite
OpenDocument Format (ODF) 2005 OASIS, ISO/IEC Office suite Office suite
Open Mathematical Documents (OMDoc) 2000 Michael Kohlhase Text/XML editor[2] Output to XHTML+MathML, TeX, others.
Org-mode 2003 Org-mode project Emacs, text editor Emacs. Output to HTML, PDF, DocBook, FreeMind, OpenDocument Format (ODF), others.
reStructuredText 2001[3] David Goodger Text editor Output to HTML, LaTeX, PDF, Unix man pages, ODT, S5 (HTML Slide Shows), XML, others.
Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 2004 W3C Vector graphics editor Web browser, etc.
Script
GML		 1968
1971		 IBM Text editor GDDM, AFP viewer
TeX
LaTeX		 1978
1984		 Donald Knuth
Leslie Lamport		 Text editor DVI or Portable Document Format (PDF) converter
Texinfo 1986 Richard Stallman Text editor output to DVI, Portable Document Format (PDF), HTML, DocBook, others.
TeXmacs format 1998 Joris van der Hoeven Text editor/TeXmacs editor PDF or PostScript files. Converters exist for TeX/LaTeX and XHTML+Mathml
Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) 1990 Text Encoding Initiative Consortium Text/XML editor Web Browser (using XHTML), PDF, Word Processor (using ODF) or EPUB
troff (typesetter runoff), groff (GNU runoff) 1973 Joe Ossanna Text editor groffer, or output to PostScript
Wireless Markup Language (WML) 1999 WAP Forum Text/XML editor Mobile browser
Language First public release date Creator Editor Viewer

Note: While Rich Text Format (RTF) is human readable, it is not considered to be a markup language and is thus excluded from the table.

Characteristics

Some characteristics of the markup languages.

Language Major purpose Based on Markup type Structural markup Presentational markup[4] Open format
AsciiDoc Multi-purpose Tag Yes Yes Yes
Computable Document Format Interactive technical documents, infographics, blogs[5] Wolfram Language Tag Yes Yes No
Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) Technical documents XML Tag Yes Yes[6] Yes
DocBook Technical documents SGML / XML Tag Yes Yes[7] Yes
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Finding aids XML Tag Yes No
Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML) Hypertext documents XML Tag Yes Yes[8] Yes
FictionBook Multi-purpose XML Tag Yes Yes Yes
Halibut Technical documents Control code Yes Yes Yes
HyperText Markup Language (HTML) Hypertext documents SGML Tag Yes Yes[9] Yes
Lilypond Music notation Control code Yes Yes
Maker Interchange Format (MIF) Technical documents Tag Yes Yes
Markdown Formatted Technical documents, Hypertext documents, E-mail Text E-mail conventions Tag Yes Yes Yes
Math Markup Language (MathML) Mathematical documents XML Tag Yes Yes[10]
The Music Encoding Initiative (MEI) Music notation XML Tag Yes Yes
Music Extensible Markup Language (MusicXML) Music notation XML Tag Yes Yes Yes
Office Open XML (OOXML) Multi-purpose XML / ZIP Tag Yes Yes Yes
OpenDocument Format (ODF) Multi-purpose XML / ZIP Tag Yes Yes Yes
Open Mathematical Document (OMDoc) Mathematical documents XML Tag Yes[11] Yes[12]
Org-mode Multi-purpose (notes, project management, publishing, literate programming) Text outliner Tag Yes Yes
reStructuredText Technical and Multi-purpose documents[13] Structured Text and Setext Tag Yes Yes[14] Yes
Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 2D Vector graphics XML Tag Yes Yes Yes
Script
GML		 Multi-purpose RUNOFF Control code Yes Yes
TeX
LaTeX		 Academic documents
Multi-purpose[15]		 Control code Yes Yes
Texinfo Technical documents TeX, Scribe Control code Yes Yes
TeXmacs format Academic documents tree Tag Yes Yes
Textile Hypertext documents AsciiDoc (based on some similarities and dates of release) Tag Yes Yes Yes
Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) Academic, linguistic, literary and technical documents SGML / XML Tag Yes No
troff (typesetter runoff), groff (GNU runoff) Technical documents RUNOFF Control code Yes Yes
Wireless Markup Language (WML) Hypertext documents XML Tag Yes Yes
Language Major purpose Based on Markup type Structural markup Presentational markup Open format

Notes
  1. "Textism › Tools › Textile". 26 December 2002. Archived from the original on 26 December 2002.
  2. An Emacs mode and a Mozilla extension are available.
  3. "An Introduction to reStructuredText". docutils.sourceforge.net.
  4. Many markup languages have purposely avoided presentational markups. For markup languages based on SGML and XML, CSS is used as a presentation layer.
  5. Uses and Examples of the Computable Document Format (CDF), Wolfram.com.
  6. Includes basic presentational content and SVG and MathML markup, officially supported in version 1.3. In select XML editors and management systems, the images and content can be viewed as rendered, through CSS mostly.
  7. Presentational content is supported through SVG and MathML markup. In select XML editors, the images can be viewed as rendered.
  8. Presentational markup is deprecated as of XHTML 1.0 and no longer allowed as of XHTML 1.1
  9. Presentational markup is deprecated as of HTML 4.0
  10. MathML comes in two mark-up syntaxes: a semantic and a presentational.
  11. uses Content MathML, OpenMath or other formats for formulae
  12. Exact presentation of symbols can be specified in OMDoc; these specifications are used when transforming OMDoc to a presentational format.
  13. "An Introduction to reStructuredText". docutils.sourceforge.net.
  14. uses CSS
  15. While Donald Knuth wrote TeX for Academic publications and Leslie Lamport wrote LaTeX for similar purpose, packages are available from Comprehensive TeX Archive Network (CTAN) for nonacademic purposes, e.g., writing scripts.

See also
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