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
<!-- Since the following tables do not (and likely should not) contain all markup languages -->
Basic general information about the markup languages: creator, version, etc.
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size: 85%; border: gray solid 1px; border-collapse: collapse; text-align: center; width: 100%;"
|- style="background: #ececec"
! style="width:15em" | Language
! First public release date
! Creator
! Editor
! Viewer
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | AsciiDoc
| 2002
| Stuart Rackham
| Text editor
| Output to XHTML, HTML, DocBook (which can convert to PDF, EPUB, DVI, LaTeX, roff, and PostScript)
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Computable Document Format
| 2010
| Wolfram Research
| Wolfram Language & Mathematica
| CDF Player; CDF format can also be embedded in web pages viewable with conventional browsers.
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Creole
| 2007
|
| Text editor
| Output to HTML, RTF, LaTeX, others; renderers for MFC, others.
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA)
| 2005
| IBM, OASIS
| Text/XML editor
| Output to HTML, PDF, CHM, javadoc, others.
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | DocBook
| 1992
| The Davenport Group, OASIS
| XML editor
| Output to HTML, PDF, CHM, javadoc, others.
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Encoded Archival Description (EAD)
| 1998
| Berkeley Project
| Text editor
| Web browser
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML)
| 2000 (January 26)
| W3C
| Text/XML editor, HTML editor
| Web browser
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | 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)
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | HyperText Markup Language (HTML)
| 1993
| Tim Berners-Lee
| Text editor, HTML editor
| Web browser
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | LilyPond
| 1996
| Han-Wen Nienhuys, Jan Nieuwenhuizen
| Text editor, Scorewriter
| Output to DVI, PDF, PostScript, PNG, others.
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Maker Interchange Format (MIF)
| 1986
| Frame Technology acquired by Adobe Systems in 1995
| Text editor, FrameMaker
| FrameMaker
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | MakeDoc
| 2000
| Carl Sassenrath
| Text editor
| Web browser (XHTML or HTML output)
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Markdown
| 2004
| John Gruber
| Text editor, E-mail client
| Web browser (XHTML or HTML output), preview in gedit-markdown-plugin
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Math Markup Language (MathML)
| 1999 (July)
| W3C
| Text/XML editor, TeX converter
| Web browser, Word processor
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | The Music Encoding Initiative (MEI)
| 1999
| The MEI Community
| XML editor
| Verovio
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Music Extensible Markup Language (MusicXML)
| 2002
| Recordare
| Scorewriter
| Scorewriter
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | MyST Markdown
| 2019
| ExecutableBooks team
| Text editor
| Output to Word processor, LaTeX, PDF, Markdown.
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Office Open XML (OOXML)
| 2006
| Ecma International, ISO/IEC
| Office suite
| Office suite
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | OpenDocument Format (ODF)
| 2005
| OASIS, ISO/IEC
| Office suite
| Office suite
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Open Mathematical Documents (OMDoc)
| 2000
| Michael Kohlhase
| Text/XML editor
| Output to XHTML+MathML, TeX, others.
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Org-mode
| 2003
| Org-mode project
| Emacs, text editor
| Emacs. Output to HTML, PDF, DocBook, FreeMind, OpenDocument Format (ODF), others.
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | reStructuredText
| 2001
| David Goodger
| Text editor
| Output to HTML, LaTeX, PDF, Unix man pages, ODT, S5 (HTML Slide Shows), XML, others.
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)
| 2004
| W3C
| Vector graphics editor
| Web browser, etc.
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Script<br>GML
| data-sort-value="1968" | 1968<br>1971
| IBM
| Text editor
| GDDM, AFP viewer
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | TeX<br>LaTeX
| data-sort-value="1978" | 1978<br>1984
| Donald Knuth<br>Leslie Lamport
| Text editor
| DVI or Portable Document Format (PDF) converter
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Texinfo
| 1986
| Richard Stallman
| Text editor
| output to DVI, Portable Document Format (PDF), HTML, DocBook, others.
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | TeXmacs format
| 1998
| Joris van der Hoeven
| Text editor/TeXmacs editor
| PDF or PostScript files. Converters exist for TeX/LaTeX and XHTML+Mathml
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Textile
| 2002
| Dean Allen
| Text editor
| Web browser (XHTML or HTML output), reference and tester (uses latest PHP-Textile version 3.5.5)
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Text Encoding Initiative (TEI)
| 1990
| Text Encoding Initiative Consortium
| Text/XML editor
| Web Browser (using XHTML), PDF, Word Processor (using ODF) or EPUB
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | troff (typesetter runoff)<br>groff (GNU runoff)
| data-sort-value="1973" | 1973<br>1990
| Joe Ossanna
| Text editor
| groffer, or output to PostScript
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Wireless Markup Language (WML)
| 1999
| WAP Forum
| Text/XML editor
| Mobile browser
|- style="background: #ececec" class="sortbottom"
! 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.
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size: 85%; border: gray solid 1px; border-collapse: collapse; text-align: center; width: 100%; table-layout: fixed;"
|- style="background: #ececec"
! style="width:15em;" | Language
! Major purpose
! Based on
! Markup type
! Structural markup
! Presentational markup
! Open format
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | AsciiDoc
| Multi-purpose
|
| Tag
|
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Computable Document Format
| Interactive technical documents, infographics, blogs
| Wolfram Language
| Tag
|
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA)
| Technical documents
| XML
| Tag
|
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | DocBook
| Technical documents
| SGML / XML
| Tag
|
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Encoded Archival Description (EAD)
| Finding aids
| XML
| Tag
|
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML)
| Hypertext documents
| XML
| Tag
|
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | FictionBook
| Multi-purpose
| XML
| Tag
|
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Halibut
| Technical documents
|
| Control code
|
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | HyperText Markup Language (HTML)
| Hypertext documents
| SGML
| Tag
|
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Lilypond
| Music notation
|
| Control code
|
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Maker Interchange Format (MIF)
| Technical documents
|
| Tag
|
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Markdown
| Formatted technical documents, hypertext documents, e-mail
| Text e-mail conventions
| Tag
|
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Math Markup Language (MathML)
| Mathematical documents
| XML
| Tag
|
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | The Music Encoding Initiative (MEI)
| Music notation
| XML
| Tag
|
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Music Extensible Markup Language (MusicXML)
| Music notation
| XML
| Tag
|
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Office Open XML (OOXML)
| Multi-purpose
| XML / ZIP
| Tag
|
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | OpenDocument Format (ODF)
| Multi-purpose
| XML / ZIP
| Tag
|
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Open Mathematical Document (OMDoc)
| Mathematical documents
| XML
| Tag
|
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Org-mode
| Multi-purpose (notes, project management, publishing, literate programming)
| Text outliner
| Tag
|
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | reStructuredText
| Technical and multi-purpose documents
| Structured text and Setext
| Tag
|
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)
| 2D vector graphics
| XML
| Tag
|
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Script<br>GML
| Multi-purpose
| RUNOFF
| Control code
|
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | TeX<br>LaTeX
| Academic documents,<br>multi-purpose
|
| Control code
|
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Texinfo
| Technical documents
| TeX, Scribe
| Control code
|
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | TeXmacs format
| Academic documents
| tree
| Tag
|
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Textile
| Hypertext documents
| AsciiDoc (based on some similarities and dates of release)
| Tag
|
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Text Encoding Initiative (TEI)
| Academic, linguistic, literary and technical documents
| SGML / XML
| Tag
|
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | troff (typesetter runoff), groff (GNU runoff)
| Technical documents
| RUNOFF
| Control code
|
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left; background: #ececec;" | Wireless Markup Language (WML)
| Hypertext documents
| XML
| Tag
|
|
|
|- style="background: #ececec" class="sortbottom"
! Language
! Major purpose
! Based on
! Markup type
! Structural markup
! Presentational markup
! Open format
|-
|}
Notes
See also
- List of document markup languages
- Comparison of Office Open XML and OpenDocument
- Comparison of e-book formats
- Comparison of data-serialization formats