Business card Technology standards
vCard /.vcf ( and CardDAV (Concluded WG) development
Adaption to new technology devices
Our main goal is to help tech companies like Apple, Google and Microsoft to adopt a modern concept for taking care of Vcard data in a secure interface in iOS, Android and the common web browsers. We have worked since 2014 to push the integrations and we have for example today succeeded to implement a good interface in iOS/ Safari.
vCard
| Filename extension | .vcf, .vcard |
|---|---|
| Internet media type | text/vcard |
| Type code | vCrd |
| Uniform Type Identifier (UTI) | public.vcard |
| Developed by | Created by Versit Consortium, all rights transferred in 1996 to Internet Mail Consortium, all rights transferred in 2004 to CalConnect |
| Type of format | Electronic business card |
| Container for | Contact information |
vCard, also known as VCF (Virtual Contact File), is a file format standard for electronic business cards. vCards can be attached to e-mail messages, sent via Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), on the World Wide Web, instant messaging or through QR code. They can contain name and address information, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, URLs, logos, photographs, and audio clips.
vCard is used as data interchange format in smartphone contacts, personal digital assistants (PDAs), personal information managers (PIMs) and customer relationship management (CRMs). To accomplish these data interchange applications, other “vCard variants” have been used and proposed as “variant standards”, each for its specific niche: XML representation, JSON representation, or web pages. vCard Plus, an elevated vCard, makes use of a customized landing page with all the basic information along with a profile photo, maps location and other fields. This can also be saved as a contact file on smartphones.
Overview[edit]
The standard Internet media type (MIME type) for a vCard has varied with each version of the specification:[1]
vCard information is common in web pages[citation needed]: the “free text”[clarification needed] content is human-readable but not machine-readable. As technologies evolve, the “free text” (HTML) was adapting to be also machine-readable.
RDFa with the vCard Ontology can be used in HTML and various XML-family languages e.g. SVG, MathML.
Related formats[edit]
jCard, “The JSON Format for vCard” is a standard proposal of 2014 in RFC 7095. This proposal has not yet become a widely used standard.[when?] The RFC 7095 does not use real JSON objects, but rather uses arrays of sequence-dependent tag-value pairs (like an XML file).
hCard is a microformat that allows a vCard to be embedded inside an HTML page. It makes use of CSS class names to identify each vCard property. Normal HTML markup and CSS styling can be used alongside the hCard class names without affecting the webpage’s ability to be parsed by a hCard parser. h-card is the microformats2 update to hCard.
Properties[edit]
vCard defines the following property types.
All vCards begin with BEGIN:VCARD and end with END:VCARD. All vCards must contain the VERSION property, which specifies the vCard version. VERSION must come immediately after BEGIN, except in the vCard 2.1 standard, which allows it to be anywhere in the vCard. Otherwise, properties can be defined in any order.
| Name | Property presence | Description | Example | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| v. 2.1 | v. 3.0 | v. 4.0 | |||
ADR | Optional | Optional | Optional | A structured representation of the physical delivery address for the vCard object. | ADR;TYPE=home:;;123 Main St.;Springfield;IL;12345;USA |
AGENT | Optional | Optional | Undefined | Information about another person who will act on behalf of the vCard object. Typically this would be an area administrator, assistant, or secretary for the individual. Can be either a URL or an embedded vCard. | AGENT:http://mi6.gov.uk/007 |
ANNIVERSARY | Undefined | Undefined | Optional | Defines the person’s anniversary. | ANNIVERSARY:19901021 |
BDAY | Optional | Optional | Optional | Date of birth of the individual associated with the vCard. | BDAY:19700310 |
BEGIN | Required | Required | Required | All vCards must start with this property. | BEGIN:VCARD |
CALADRURI | Undefined | Undefined | Optional | A URL to use for sending a scheduling request to the person’s calendar. | CALADRURI:http://example.com/calendar/jdoe |
CALURI | Undefined | Undefined | Optional | A URL to the person’s calendar. | CALURI:http://example.com/calendar/jdoe |
CATEGORIES | Optional | Optional | Optional | A list of “tags” that can be used to describe the object represented by this vCard. | CATEGORIES:swimmer,biker |
CLASS | Undefined | Optional | Undefined | Describes the sensitivity of the information in the vCard. | CLASS:public |
CLIENTPIDMAP | Undefined | Undefined | Optional | Used for synchronizing different revisions of the same vCard. | CLIENTPIDMAP:1;urn:uuid:3df403f4-5924-4bb7-b077-3c711d9eb34b |
EMAIL | Optional | Optional | Optional | The address for electronic mail communication with the vCard object. | EMAIL:johndoe@hotmail.com |
END | Required | Required | Required | All vCards must end with this property. | END:VCARD |
FBURL | Undefined | Undefined | Optional | Defines a URL that shows when the person is “free” or “busy” on their calendar. | FBURL:http://example.com/fb/jdoe |
FN | Optional | Required | Required | The formatted name string associated with the vCard object. | FN:Dr. John Doe |
GENDER | Undefined | Undefined | Optional | Defines the person’s gender. | GENDER:F |
GEO | Optional | Optional | Optional | Specifies a latitude and longitude. | 2.1, 3.0: GEO:39.95;-75.16674.0: GEO:geo:39.95,-75.1667 |
IMPP | Undefined | Maybe | Optional | Defines an instant messenger handle. This property was introduced in a separate RFC when the latest vCard version was 3.0. Therefore, 3.0 vCards might use this property without otherwise declaring it. | IMPP:aim:johndoe@aol.com |
KEY | Optional | Optional | Optional | The public encryption key associated with the vCard object. It may point to an external URL, may be plain text, or may be embedded in the vCard as a Base64 encoded block of text. | 2.1: KEY;PGP:http://example.com/key.pgp2.1: KEY;PGP;ENCODING=BASE64:[base64-data]3.0: KEY;TYPE=PGP:http://example.com/key.pgp3.0: KEY;TYPE=PGP;ENCODING=b:[base64-data]4.0: KEY;MEDIATYPE=application/pgp-keys:http://example.com/key.pgp4.0: KEY:data:application/pgp-keys;base64,[base64-data] |
KIND | Undefined | Undefined | Optional | Defines the type of entity that this vCard represents: ‘application’, ‘individual’, ‘group’, ‘location’ or ‘organization’; ‘x-*’ values may be used for experimental purposes.[2][3] | KIND:individual |
LABEL | Optional | Optional | Incorporated without | Represents the actual text that should be put on the mailing label when delivering a physical package to the person/object associated with the vCard (related to the ADR property).Not supported in version 4.0. Instead, this information is stored in the | LABEL;TYPE=HOME:123 Main St.\nSpringfield, IL 12345\nUSA |
LANG | Undefined | Undefined | Optional | Defines a language that the person speaks. | LANG:fr-CA |
LOGO | Optional | Optional | Optional | An image or graphic of the logo of the organization that is associated with the individual to which the vCard belongs. It may point to an external URL or may be embedded in the vCard as a Base64 encoded block of text. | 2.1: LOGO;PNG:http://example.com/logo.png2.1: LOGO;PNG;ENCODING=BASE64:[base64-data]3.0: LOGO;TYPE=PNG:http://example.com/logo.png3.0: LOGO;TYPE=PNG;ENCODING=b:[base64-data]4.0: LOGO;MEDIATYPE=image/png:http://example.com/logo.png4.0: LOGO:data:image/png;base64,[base64-data] |
MAILER | Optional | Optional | Undefined | Type of email program used. | MAILER:Thunderbird |
MEMBER | Undefined | Undefined | Optional | Defines a member that is part of the group that this vCard represents. Acceptable values include:
KIND property must be set to “group” in order to use this property. | MEMBER:urn:uuid:03a0e51f-d1aa-4385-8a53-e29025acd8af |
N | Required | Required | Optional | A structured representation of the name of the person, place or thing associated with the vCard object. | N:Doe;John;;Dr; |
NAME | Undefined | Optional | Undefined | Provides a textual representation of the SOURCE property. | |
NICKNAME | Undefined | Optional | Optional | One or more descriptive/familiar names for the object represented by this vCard. | NICKNAME:Jon,Johnny |
NOTE | Optional | Optional | Optional | Specifies supplemental information or a comment that is associated with the vCard. | NOTE:I am proficient in Tiger-Crane Style,\nand I am more than proficient in the exquisite art of the Samurai sword. |
ORG | Optional | Optional | Optional | The name and optionally the unit(s) of the organization associated with the vCard object. This property is based on the X.520 Organization Name attribute and the X.520 Organization Unit attribute. | ORG:Google;GMail Team;Spam Detection Squad |
PHOTO | Optional | Optional | Optional | An image or photograph of the individual associated with the vCard. It may point to an external URL or may be embedded in the vCard as a Base64 encoded block of text. | 2.1: PHOTO;JPEG:http://example.com/photo.jpg2.1: PHOTO;JPEG;ENCODING=BASE64:[base64-data]3.0: PHOTO;TYPE=JPEG;VALUE=URI:http://example.com/photo.jpg3.0: PHOTO;TYPE=JPEG;ENCODING=b:[base64-data]4.0: PHOTO;MEDIATYPE=image/jpeg:http://example.com/photo.jpg4.0: PHOTO:data:image/jpeg;base64,[base64-data] |
PRODID | Undefined | Optional | Optional | The identifier for the product that created the vCard object. | PRODID:-//ONLINE DIRECTORY//NONSGML Version 1//EN |
PROFILE | Optional | Optional | Undefined | States that the vCard is a vCard. | PROFILE:VCARD |
RELATED | Undefined | Undefined | Optional | Another entity that the person is related to. Acceptable values include:
| RELATED;TYPE=friend:urn:uuid:03a0e51f-d1aa-4385-8a53-e29025acd8af |
REV | Optional | Optional | Optional | A timestamp for the last time the vCard was updated. | REV:20121201T134211Z |
ROLE | Optional | Optional | Optional | The role, occupation, or business category of the vCard object within an organization. | ROLE:Executive |
SORT-STRING | Undefined | Optional | Incorporated without | Defines a string that should be used when an application sorts this vCard in some way. Not supported in version 4.0. Instead, this information is stored in the | SORT-STRING:Doe |
SOUND | Optional | Optional | Optional | By default, if this property is not grouped with other properties it specifies the pronunciation of the FN property of the vCard object. It may point to an external URL or may be embedded in the vCard as a Base64 encoded block of text. | 2.1: SOUND;OGG:http://example.com/sound.ogg2.1: SOUND;OGG;ENCODING=BASE64:[base64-data]3.0: SOUND;TYPE=OGG:http://example.com/sound.ogg3.0: SOUND;TYPE=OGG;ENCODING=b:[base64-data]4.0: SOUND;MEDIATYPE=audio/ogg:http://example.com/sound.ogg4.0: SOUND:data:audio/ogg;base64,[base64-data] |
SOURCE | Optional | Optional | Optional | A URL that can be used to get the latest version of this vCard. | SOURCE:http://johndoe.com/vcard.vcf |
TEL | Optional | Optional | Optional | The canonical number string for a telephone number for telephony communication with the vCard object. | TEL;TYPE=cell:(123) 555-5832 |
TITLE | Optional | Optional | Optional | Specifies the job title, functional position or function of the individual associated with the vCard object within an organization. | TITLE:V.P. Research and Development |
TZ | Optional | Optional | Optional | The time zone of the vCard object. | 2.1, 3.0: TZ:-05004.0: TZ:America/New_York |
UID | Optional | Optional | Optional | Specifies a value that represents a persistent, globally unique identifier associated with the object. | UID:urn:uuid:da418720-3754-4631-a169-db89a02b831b |
URL | Optional | Optional | Optional | A URL pointing to a website that represents the person in some way. | URL:http://www.johndoe.com |
VERSION | Required | Required | Required | The version of the vCard specification. In version 4.0, this must come right after the BEGIN property. | VERSION:3.0 |
XML | Undefined | Undefined | Optional | Any XML data that is attached to the vCard. This is used if the vCard was encoded in XML (xCard standard) and the XML document contained elements which are not part of the xCard standard. | XML:<b>Not an xCard XML element</b> |
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ RFC 6350, section 10.1 “Media Type Registration”
- ^ “vCard Format Specification: 6.1.4. KIND”. IETF. August 2011.
- ^ “vCard KIND:application”. IETF. December 2011.
External links[edit]
- vCard 4.0 at its developer CalConnect
- RFC 6350 describing the vCard format version 4
- vCard and vCalendar (old versions) from the Internet Mail Consortium in the Internet Archive
vCard
 |
|
| Filename extension | .vcf, .vcard |
|---|---|
| Internet media type | text/vcard |
| Type code | vCrd |
| Uniform Type Identifier (UTI) | public.vcard |
| Developed by | Created by Versit Consortium, all rights transferred in 1996 to Internet Mail Consortium, all rights transferred in 2004 to CalConnect |
| Type of format | Electronic business card |
| Container for | Contact information |
vCard, also known as VCF (Virtual Contact File), is a file format standard for electronic business cards. vCards can be attached to e-mail messages, sent via Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), on the World Wide Web, instant messaging or through QR code. They can contain name and address information, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, URLs, logos, photographs, and audio clips.
vCard is used as data interchange format in smartphone contacts, personal digital assistants (PDAs), personal information managers (PIMs) and customer relationship management (CRMs). To accomplish these data interchange applications, other “vCard variants” have been used and proposed as “variant standards”, each for its specific niche: XML representation, JSON representation, or web pages. vCard Plus, an elevated vCard, makes use of a customized landing page with all the basic information along with a profile photo, maps location and other fields. This can also be saved as a contact file on smartphones.
Overview[edit]
The standard Internet media type (MIME type) for a vCard has varied with each version of the specification:[1]
vCard information is common in web pages[citation needed]: the “free text”[clarification needed] content is human-readable but not machine-readable. As technologies evolve, the “free text” (HTML) was adapting to be also machine-readable.
RDFa with the vCard Ontology can be used in HTML and various XML-family languages e.g. SVG, MathML.
Related formats[edit]
jCard, “The JSON Format for vCard” is a standard proposal of 2014 in RFC 7095. This proposal has not yet become a widely used standard.[when?] The RFC 7095 does not use real JSON objects, but rather uses arrays of sequence-dependent tag-value pairs (like an XML file).
hCard is a microformat that allows a vCard to be embedded inside an HTML page. It makes use of CSS class names to identify each vCard property. Normal HTML markup and CSS styling can be used alongside the hCard class names without affecting the webpage’s ability to be parsed by a hCard parser. h-card is the microformats2 update to hCard.
Properties[edit]
vCard defines the following property types.
All vCards begin with BEGIN:VCARD and end with END:VCARD. All vCards must contain the VERSION property, which specifies the vCard version. VERSION must come immediately after BEGIN, except in the vCard 2.1 standard, which allows it to be anywhere in the vCard. Otherwise, properties can be defined in any order.
| Name | Property presence | Description | Example | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| v. 2.1 | v. 3.0 | v. 4.0 | |||
ADR | Optional | Optional | Optional | A structured representation of the physical delivery address for the vCard object. | ADR;TYPE=home:;;123 Main St.;Springfield;IL;12345;USA |
AGENT | Optional | Optional | Undefined | Information about another person who will act on behalf of the vCard object. Typically this would be an area administrator, assistant, or secretary for the individual. Can be either a URL or an embedded vCard. | AGENT:http://mi6.gov.uk/007 |
ANNIVERSARY | Undefined | Undefined | Optional | Defines the person’s anniversary. | ANNIVERSARY:19901021 |
BDAY | Optional | Optional | Optional | Date of birth of the individual associated with the vCard. | BDAY:19700310 |
BEGIN | Required | Required | Required | All vCards must start with this property. | BEGIN:VCARD |
CALADRURI | Undefined | Undefined | Optional | A URL to use for sending a scheduling request to the person’s calendar. | CALADRURI:http://example.com/calendar/jdoe |
CALURI | Undefined | Undefined | Optional | A URL to the person’s calendar. | CALURI:http://example.com/calendar/jdoe |
CATEGORIES | Optional | Optional | Optional | A list of “tags” that can be used to describe the object represented by this vCard. | CATEGORIES:swimmer,biker |
CLASS | Undefined | Optional | Undefined | Describes the sensitivity of the information in the vCard. | CLASS:public |
CLIENTPIDMAP | Undefined | Undefined | Optional | Used for synchronizing different revisions of the same vCard. | CLIENTPIDMAP:1;urn:uuid:3df403f4-5924-4bb7-b077-3c711d9eb34b |
EMAIL | Optional | Optional | Optional | The address for electronic mail communication with the vCard object. | EMAIL:johndoe@hotmail.com |
END | Required | Required | Required | All vCards must end with this property. | END:VCARD |
FBURL | Undefined | Undefined | Optional | Defines a URL that shows when the person is “free” or “busy” on their calendar. | FBURL:http://example.com/fb/jdoe |
FN | Optional | Required | Required | The formatted name string associated with the vCard object. | FN:Dr. John Doe |
GENDER | Undefined | Undefined | Optional | Defines the person’s gender. | GENDER:F |
GEO | Optional | Optional | Optional | Specifies a latitude and longitude. | 2.1, 3.0: GEO:39.95;-75.16674.0: GEO:geo:39.95,-75.1667 |
IMPP | Undefined | Maybe | Optional | Defines an instant messenger handle. This property was introduced in a separate RFC when the latest vCard version was 3.0. Therefore, 3.0 vCards might use this property without otherwise declaring it. | IMPP:aim:johndoe@aol.com |
KEY | Optional | Optional | Optional | The public encryption key associated with the vCard object. It may point to an external URL, may be plain text, or may be embedded in the vCard as a Base64 encoded block of text. | 2.1: KEY;PGP:http://example.com/key.pgp2.1: KEY;PGP;ENCODING=BASE64:[base64-data]3.0: KEY;TYPE=PGP:http://example.com/key.pgp3.0: KEY;TYPE=PGP;ENCODING=b:[base64-data]4.0: KEY;MEDIATYPE=application/pgp-keys:http://example.com/key.pgp4.0: KEY:data:application/pgp-keys;base64,[base64-data] |
KIND | Undefined | Undefined | Optional | Defines the type of entity that this vCard represents: ‘application’, ‘individual’, ‘group’, ‘location’ or ‘organization’; ‘x-*’ values may be used for experimental purposes.[2][3] | KIND:individual |
LABEL | Optional | Optional | Incorporated without | Represents the actual text that should be put on the mailing label when delivering a physical package to the person/object associated with the vCard (related to the ADR property).Not supported in version 4.0. Instead, this information is stored in the | LABEL;TYPE=HOME:123 Main St.\nSpringfield, IL 12345\nUSA |
LANG | Undefined | Undefined | Optional | Defines a language that the person speaks. | LANG:fr-CA |
LOGO | Optional | Optional | Optional | An image or graphic of the logo of the organization that is associated with the individual to which the vCard belongs. It may point to an external URL or may be embedded in the vCard as a Base64 encoded block of text. | 2.1: LOGO;PNG:http://example.com/logo.png2.1: LOGO;PNG;ENCODING=BASE64:[base64-data]3.0: LOGO;TYPE=PNG:http://example.com/logo.png3.0: LOGO;TYPE=PNG;ENCODING=b:[base64-data]4.0: LOGO;MEDIATYPE=image/png:http://example.com/logo.png4.0: LOGO:data:image/png;base64,[base64-data] |
MAILER | Optional | Optional | Undefined | Type of email program used. | MAILER:Thunderbird |
MEMBER | Undefined | Undefined | Optional | Defines a member that is part of the group that this vCard represents. Acceptable values include:
KIND property must be set to “group” in order to use this property. | MEMBER:urn:uuid:03a0e51f-d1aa-4385-8a53-e29025acd8af |
N | Required | Required | Optional | A structured representation of the name of the person, place or thing associated with the vCard object. | N:Doe;John;;Dr; |
NAME | Undefined | Optional | Undefined | Provides a textual representation of the SOURCE property. | |
NICKNAME | Undefined | Optional | Optional | One or more descriptive/familiar names for the object represented by this vCard. | NICKNAME:Jon,Johnny |
NOTE | Optional | Optional | Optional | Specifies supplemental information or a comment that is associated with the vCard. | NOTE:I am proficient in Tiger-Crane Style,\nand I am more than proficient in the exquisite art of the Samurai sword. |
ORG | Optional | Optional | Optional | The name and optionally the unit(s) of the organization associated with the vCard object. This property is based on the X.520 Organization Name attribute and the X.520 Organization Unit attribute. | ORG:Google;GMail Team;Spam Detection Squad |
PHOTO | Optional | Optional | Optional | An image or photograph of the individual associated with the vCard. It may point to an external URL or may be embedded in the vCard as a Base64 encoded block of text. | 2.1: PHOTO;JPEG:http://example.com/photo.jpg2.1: PHOTO;JPEG;ENCODING=BASE64:[base64-data]3.0: PHOTO;TYPE=JPEG;VALUE=URI:http://example.com/photo.jpg3.0: PHOTO;TYPE=JPEG;ENCODING=b:[base64-data]4.0: PHOTO;MEDIATYPE=image/jpeg:http://example.com/photo.jpg4.0: PHOTO:data:image/jpeg;base64,[base64-data] |
PRODID | Undefined | Optional | Optional | The identifier for the product that created the vCard object. | PRODID:-//ONLINE DIRECTORY//NONSGML Version 1//EN |
PROFILE | Optional | Optional | Undefined | States that the vCard is a vCard. | PROFILE:VCARD |
RELATED | Undefined | Undefined | Optional | Another entity that the person is related to. Acceptable values include:
| RELATED;TYPE=friend:urn:uuid:03a0e51f-d1aa-4385-8a53-e29025acd8af |
REV | Optional | Optional | Optional | A timestamp for the last time the vCard was updated. | REV:20121201T134211Z |
ROLE | Optional | Optional | Optional | The role, occupation, or business category of the vCard object within an organization. | ROLE:Executive |
SORT-STRING | Undefined | Optional | Incorporated without | Defines a string that should be used when an application sorts this vCard in some way. Not supported in version 4.0. Instead, this information is stored in the | SORT-STRING:Doe |
SOUND | Optional | Optional | Optional | By default, if this property is not grouped with other properties it specifies the pronunciation of the FN property of the vCard object. It may point to an external URL or may be embedded in the vCard as a Base64 encoded block of text. | 2.1: SOUND;OGG:http://example.com/sound.ogg2.1: SOUND;OGG;ENCODING=BASE64:[base64-data]3.0: SOUND;TYPE=OGG:http://example.com/sound.ogg3.0: SOUND;TYPE=OGG;ENCODING=b:[base64-data]4.0: SOUND;MEDIATYPE=audio/ogg:http://example.com/sound.ogg4.0: SOUND:data:audio/ogg;base64,[base64-data] |
SOURCE | Optional | Optional | Optional | A URL that can be used to get the latest version of this vCard. | SOURCE:http://johndoe.com/vcard.vcf |
TEL | Optional | Optional | Optional | The canonical number string for a telephone number for telephony communication with the vCard object. | TEL;TYPE=cell:(123) 555-5832 |
TITLE | Optional | Optional | Optional | Specifies the job title, functional position or function of the individual associated with the vCard object within an organization. | TITLE:V.P. Research and Development |
TZ | Optional | Optional | Optional | The time zone of the vCard object. | 2.1, 3.0: TZ:-05004.0: TZ:America/New_York |
UID | Optional | Optional | Optional | Specifies a value that represents a persistent, globally unique identifier associated with the object. | UID:urn:uuid:da418720-3754-4631-a169-db89a02b831b |
URL | Optional | Optional | Optional | A URL pointing to a website that represents the person in some way. | URL:http://www.johndoe.com |
VERSION | Required | Required | Required | The version of the vCard specification. In version 4.0, this must come right after the BEGIN property. | VERSION:3.0 |
XML | Undefined | Undefined | Optional | Any XML data that is attached to the vCard. This is used if the vCard was encoded in XML (xCard standard) and the XML document contained elements which are not part of the xCard standard. | XML:<b>Not an xCard XML element</b> |
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ RFC 6350, section 10.1 “Media Type Registration”
- ^ “vCard Format Specification: 6.1.4. KIND”. IETF. August 2011.
- ^ “vCard KIND:application”. IETF. December 2011.
External links[edit]
- vCard 4.0 at its developer CalConnect
- RFC 6350 describing the vCard format version 4
- vCard and vCalendar (old versions) from the Internet Mail Consortium in the Internet Archive
Variant Call Format
Biological sequence format
| Filename extension | vcf |
|---|---|
| Developed by | VCFtools |
| Latest release | 4.3 January 13, 2021 |
| Type of format | Genomic sequence format |
| Extended from | Tab-separated values |
| Open format? | Yes |
| Website | samtools |
The Variant Call Format (VCF) specifies the format of a text file used in bioinformatics for storing gene sequence variations. The format has been developed with the advent of large-scale genotyping and DNA sequencing projects, such as the 1000 Genomes Project. Existing formats for genetic data such as General feature format (GFF) stored all of the genetic data, much of which is redundant because it will be shared across the genomes. By using the variant call format only the variations need to be stored along with a reference genome.
The standard is currently in version 4.3,[1][2] although the 1000 Genomes Project has developed its own specification for structural variations such as duplications, which are not easily accommodated into the existing schema.[3] There is also a Genomic VCF (gVCF) extended format, which includes additional information about “blocks” that match the reference and their qualities.[4] A set of tools is also available for editing and manipulating the files.[5][6]
Example[edit]
##fileformat=VCFv4.3 ##fileDate=20090805 ##source=myImputationProgramV3.1 ##reference=file:///seq/references/1000GenomesPilot-NCBI36.fasta ##contig=<ID=20,length=62435964,assembly=B36,md5=f126cdf8a6e0c7f379d618ff66beb2da,species="Homo sapiens",taxonomy=x> ##phasing=partial ##INFO=<ID=NS,Number=1,Type=Integer,Description="Number of Samples With Data"> ##INFO=<ID=DP,Number=1,Type=Integer,Description="Total Depth"> ##INFO=<ID=AF,Number=A,Type=Float,Description="Allele Frequency"> ##INFO=<ID=AA,Number=1,Type=String,Description="Ancestral Allele"> ##INFO=<ID=DB,Number=0,Type=Flag,Description="dbSNP membership, build 129"> ##INFO=<ID=H2,Number=0,Type=Flag,Description="HapMap2 membership"> ##FILTER=<ID=q10,Description="Quality below 10"> ##FILTER=<ID=s50,Description="Less than 50% of samples have data"> ##FORMAT=<ID=GT,Number=1,Type=String,Description="Genotype"> ##FORMAT=<ID=GQ,Number=1,Type=Integer,Description="Genotype Quality"> ##FORMAT=<ID=DP,Number=1,Type=Integer,Description="Read Depth"> ##FORMAT=<ID=HQ,Number=2,Type=Integer,Description="Haplotype Quality"> #CHROM POS ID REF ALT QUAL FILTER INFO FORMAT NA00001 NA00002 NA00003 20 14370 rs6054257 G A 29 PASS NS=3;DP=14;AF=0.5;DB;H2 GT:GQ:DP:HQ 0|0:48:1:51,51 1|0:48:8:51,51 1/1:43:5:.,. 20 17330 . T A 3 q10 NS=3;DP=11;AF=0.017 GT:GQ:DP:HQ 0|0:49:3:58,50 0|1:3:5:65,3 0/0:41:3 20 1110696 rs6040355 A G,T 67 PASS NS=2;DP=10;AF=0.333,0.667;AA=T;DB GT:GQ:DP:HQ 1|2:21:6:23,27 2|1:2:0:18,2 2/2:35:4 20 1230237 . T . 47 PASS NS=3;DP=13;AA=T GT:GQ:DP:HQ 0|0:54:7:56,60 0|0:48:4:51,51 0/0:61:2 20 1234567 microsat1 GTC G,GTCT 50 PASS NS=3;DP=9;AA=G GT:GQ:DP 0/1:35:4 0/2:17:2 1/1:40:3
The VCF header[edit]
The header begins the file and provides metadata describing the body of the file. Header lines are denoted as starting with #. Special keywords in the header are denoted with ##. Recommended keywords include fileformat, fileDate and reference.
The header contains keywords that optionally semantically and syntactically describe the fields used in the body of the file, notably INFO, FILTER, and FORMAT (see below).
The columns of a VCF[edit]
The body of VCF follows the header, and is tab separated into 8 mandatory columns and an unlimited number of optional columns that may be used to record other information about the sample(s). When additional columns are used, the first optional column is used to describe the format of the data in the columns that follow.
| Name | Brief description (see the specification for details). | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | CHROM | The name of the sequence (typically a chromosome) on which the variation is being called. This sequence is usually known as ‘the reference sequence’, i.e. the sequence against which the given sample varies. |
| 2 | POS | The 1-based position of the variation on the given sequence. |
| 3 | ID | The identifier of the variation, e.g. a dbSNP rs identifier, or if unknown a “.”. Multiple identifiers should be separated by semi-colons without white-space. |
| 4 | REF | The reference base (or bases in the case of an indel) at the given position on the given reference sequence. |
| 5 | ALT | The list of alternative alleles at this position. |
| 6 | QUAL | A quality score associated with the inference of the given alleles. |
| 7 | FILTER | A flag indicating which of a given set of filters the variation has failed or PASS if all the filters were passed successfully. |
| 8 | INFO | An extensible list of key-value pairs (fields) describing the variation. See below for some common fields. Multiple fields are separated by semicolons with optional values in the format: <key>=<data>[,data]. |
| 9 | FORMAT | An (optional) extensible list of fields for describing the samples. See below for some common fields. |
| + | SAMPLEs | For each (optional) sample described in the file, values are given for the fields listed in FORMAT |
Common INFO fields[edit]
Arbitrary keys are permitted, although the following sub-fields are reserved (albeit optional):[1]
| Name | Brief description |
|---|---|
| AA | ancestral allele |
| AC | allele count in genotypes, for each ALT allele, in the same order as listed |
| AF | allele frequency for each ALT allele in the same order as listed (use this when estimated from primary data, not called genotypes) |
| AN | total number of alleles in called genotypes |
| BQ | RMS base quality at this position |
| CIGAR | cigar string describing how to align an alternate allele to the reference allele |
| DB | dbSNP membership |
| DP | combined depth across samples, e.g. DP=154 |
| END | end position of the variant described in this record (for use with symbolic alleles) |
| H2 | membership in hapmap2 |
| H3 | membership in hapmap3 |
| MQ | RMS mapping quality, e.g. MQ=52 |
| MQ0 | Number of MAPQ == 0 reads covering this record |
| NS | Number of samples with data |
| SB | strand bias at this position |
| SOMATIC | indicates that the record is a somatic mutation, for cancer genomics |
| VALIDATED | validated by follow-up experiment |
| 1000G | membership in 1000 Genomes |
Any other info fields are defined in the .vcf header.
Common FORMAT fields[edit]
| Name | Brief description |
|---|---|
| AD | Read depth for each allele |
| ADF | Read depth for each allele on the forward strand |
| ADR | Read depth for each allele on the reverse strand |
| DP | Read depth |
| EC | Expected alternate allele counts |
| FT | Filter indicating if this genotype was “called” |
| GL | Genotype likelihoods |
| GP | Genotype posterior probabilities |
| GQ | Conditional genotype quality |
| GT | Genotype |
| HQ | Haplotype quality |
| MQ | RMS mapping quality |
| PL | Phred-scaled genotype likelihoods rounded to the closest integer |
| PQ | Phasing quality |
| PS | Phase set |
Any other format fields are defined in the .vcf header.
See also[edit]
- The FASTA format, used to represent genome sequences.
- The FASTQ format, used to represent DNA sequencer reads along with quality scores.
- The SAM format, used to represent genome sequencer reads that have been aligned to genome sequences.
- The GVF format (Genome Variation Format), an extension based on the GFF3 format.
The VCF specification is no longer maintained by the 1000 Genomes Project. The group leading the management and expansion of the format is the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) Large Scale Genomics Work Stream file format team,[7] http://ga4gh.org/#/fileformats-team
References[edit]
- ^ Jump up to:a b “VCF Specification” (PDF). Retrieved 20 Oct 2016.
- ^ “Specifications of SAM/BAM and related high-throughput sequencing file formats”. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
- ^ “Encoding Structural Variants in VCF (Variant Call Format) version 4.0 | 1000 Genomes”. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
- ^ “GVCF – Genomic Variant Call Format”. GATK. Broad Institute.
- ^ “VCFtools from Github.io”. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
- ^ “BCFtools”.
- ^ “Bio-IT World”. www.bio-itworld.com. Retrieved 2018-10-26.
External links[edit]
- An explanation of the format in picture form
- Ossola, Alexandra (20 March 2015). “The Race to Build a Search Engine for Your DNA”. IEEE Spectrum. Retrieved 22 March 2015.