It’s easy to think that once we store our important files digitally, they’ll be safe and readable forever. But the developers at The Document Foundation (TDF), the people behind LibreOffice, remind us that this isn’t always the case. The type of file format you use can make all the difference in keeping your documents available years down the line.
Italo Vignoli, one of the people who helped start The Document Foundation, recently brought up an important point. He said that depending on closed or proprietary file formats can backfire; some important files have already become impossible to open after only a few years. Things are better than they used to be, but the problem hasn’t gone away.
LibreOffice was built to give people an open-source option instead of relying on big commercial office suites. Its main file type, the OpenDocument Format (ODF), is an ISO-approved standard made to last and to work across different systems. Because ODF is managed in the open and fully documented, anyone can build software that uses it. That’s a big difference from closed formats that lock users into one company’s products.
Vignoli didn’t call out any formats directly, but it’s clear he was referring to the problems people have had with Microsoft Office’s older file types. Documents made in those formats can be tough, or impossible to open now, mostly because they were built to work only with Microsoft’s software.
Microsoft has tried to fix the problem in recent years by adopting the Office Open XML (OOXML) format. But according to The Document Foundation, the issue isn’t really gone. They point out that OOXML uses complicated XML code that makes it tough for other programs to read files properly. As Vignoli puts it, it’s a perfect example of how something designed to make things simpler can end up doing the opposite.
All that complexity comes with a cost. When software changes or gets phased out, older files can stop working altogether, a big problem for anyone who needs to keep records for years. ODF was designed to avoid that. A document made in ODF back in 2005 should still open just fine in a program today.
If you care about keeping your files safe for the long haul, The Document Foundation has some simple advice. Use ODF for documents you’re still working on or need to preserve accurately, and switch to PDF once you’re done editing. And don’t forget the basics, always keep a few backups and check them once in a while to make sure everything still opens.
TDF’s advice about using open formats makes a lot of sense, but that doesn’t mean all proprietary files are gone for good. In many cases, old documents can be brought back to life through emulation or virtualization, which lets outdated software run on newer systems. Even so, if you want to make sure your files stay accessible without extra hassle, sticking with open, standardized formats is the smarter move.
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