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XLIFF

The interchange format, exchanged properly

XLIFF is how the translation industry passes work around: every serious CAT tool speaks it, Angular emits it, Xcode exports it. locamorph imports XLIFF 1.2 and 2.0, keeps source text, target text and notes together on each unit, and exports 1.2 that agencies and toolchains accept without preprocessing.

Values stay text: a translation that looks like a number is not coerced into one, and characters XML cannot carry are handled instead of corrupting the file. Round trip tested like every format here.

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translations.fr.xlf
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xliff version="1.2" xmlns="urn:oasis:names:tc:xliff:document:1.2">
  <file source-language="en" target-language="fr" datatype="plaintext" original="messages">
    <body>
      <trans-unit id="checkout.title">
        <source>Order summary</source>
        <target>Récapitulatif de commande</target>
        <note>Title of the checkout screen</note>
      </trans-unit>
    </body>
  </file>
</xliff>
One translation unit: source, target and the note a translator actually reads.
.xlf .xliff Import 1.2 and 2.0 Export 1.2 Source text kept with target Notes both ways Language from file attributes

In locamorph

How locamorph handles XLIFF

versions

1.2 and 2.0 in, 1.2 out

trans-unit files at any nesting depth and 2.0 unit/segment files both import. Exports use 1.2, the dialect with the widest tool support.

fidelity

Text is never guessed at

A target of 2024 stays the string it was, and notes stay attached to their unit through import, edit and export.

language

Locales from the file

source-language and target-language attributes identify the languages, so an agency handback lands in the right locale on its own.

Ecosystem

Where XLIFF lives

The OASIS standard since 2002, XLIFF is the lingua franca between development platforms and translation tools: SDL Trados, memoQ, OmegaT and the rest of the CAT world, Angular’s ng extract-i18n, Symfony, and Xcode’s localization exports all speak it.

Typical flow: export XLIFF from locamorph for an agency, let them work in their CAT tool of choice, and import the handback; source, target and notes line up automatically. Or bridge a toolchain: Angular and Xcode strings in, translated files back out.

Bring the agency file

Import an XLIFF handback on the free plan and watch source, target and notes land on the right keys in the right language.

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