Data Interchange Format

Not to be confused with LDAP Data Interchange Format.
".dif" redirects here. For the video file format, see DV (video format) § Application software support.
This article is about a data exchange format for spreadsheets. For the general concept, see Data exchange.

Data Interchange Format (.dif) is a text file format used to import/export single spreadsheets between spreadsheet programs.

Applications that still support the DIF format are Collabora Online, Excel,[note 1] Gnumeric, and LibreOffice Calc. Historical applications that used to support it until they became end of life or no longer acknowledge support of the format are dBase, FileMaker, Framework, Lotus 1-2-3, Multiplan, OpenOffice.org Calc and StarCalc.[1][2]

A limitation with DIF format is that it cannot handle multiple spreadsheets in a single workbook. Due to the similarity in abbreviation and in age (both date to the early 1980s), the DIF spreadsheet format it is often confused with Navy DIF; Navy DIF, however, is an unrelated "document interchange format" for word processors.[3]


Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ "LibreOffice Calc – Supported File Formats". LibreOfficeHelp.com. 2020-10-06. Archived from the original on 2016-12-13. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
  2. ^ "File formats that are supported in Excel". support.microsoft.com. Archived from the original on 2020-11-11. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
  3. ^ Petrosky, Mary (August 5, 1985). "File Conversion Market Grows". InfoWorld. Vol. 7, no. 31. pp. 36–37. "Among the file formats designed to facilitate the interchange of text files between microcomputers running different word processing software, IBM's Document Content Architecture (DCA) and the U.S. Navy's document interchange format (DIF) seem to have the greatest support."