LibreOffice
LibreOffice is a free and open-source office productivity software suite developed by The Document Foundation. It was created in 2010 as a fork of OpenOffice.org, itself a successor to StarOffice. The suite includes applications for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, vector graphics, database management, and formula editing. It supports the OpenDocument format and is compatible with other major formats, including those used by Microsoft Office.
LibreOffice is available for Windows, macOS, and is the default office suite in many Linux distributions, and there are community builds for other platforms. Ecosystem partner Collabora uses LibreOffice as upstream code to provide a web-based suite branded as Collabora Online, along with apps for platforms not officially supported by LibreOffice, including Android, ChromeOS, iOS and iPadOS.
TDF describes LibreOffice as intended for individual users, and encourages enterprises to obtain the software and technical support services from ecosystem partners like Collabora. TDF states that most development is carried out by these commercial partners in the course of supporting enterprise customers. This arrangement has contributed to a significantly higher level of development activity compared to Apache OpenOffice, another fork of OpenOffice.org, which has struggled since 2015 to attract and retain enough contributors to sustain active development and to provide timely security updates.
LibreOffice was announced on 28 September 2010, with its first stable release in January 2011. It recorded about 7.5 million downloads in its first year, and more than 120 million by 2015, excluding those bundled with Linux distributions. As of 2018, TDF estimated around 200 million active users. The suite is available in 120 languages.
Features
Included applications in LibreOffice
Operating systems and processor architectures
LibreOffice is cross-platform software. The Document Foundation officially supports Linux, macOS and Windows. Additional ports exist for other operating systems and processor architectures, maintained by commercial vendors such as Collabora or by community members, as is the case for BSD and OpenIndiana.Earlier versions of LibreOffice and its predecessors, including StarOffice, supported platforms such as Solaris on SPARC hardware, though these are no longer maintained.
LibreOffice development has also expanded to mobile platforms. TDF offers two mobile apps: Impress Remote for Android, iOS and iPadOS, which allows users to control presentations remotely, and a document viewer for Android. Collabora provides officially supported mobile apps with editing capabilities for Android, iOS, and iPadOS.
LibreOffice Online
LibreOffice Online is the web-based version of the LibreOffice office suite, allowing users to view and edit documents through a web browser using the HTML5<canvas> element. Development began in 2011, with contributions from Collabora and IceWarp. A preview of the software was demonstrated in 2015, and in December 2015, Collabora and ownCloud released a technical preview called Collabora Online Development Edition. The first source code release of LibreOffice Online occurred alongside LibreOffice version 5.3 in February 2017.The Document Foundation does not plan to offer a hosted cloud solution similar to commercial offerings like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, due to the prohibitively high cost of running the platform. Therefore the task has been left to third-party ecosystem partners and cloud providers, like Collabora and CIB. The first enterprise version, Collabora Online 1.0, was released in July 2016. In the same month, Nextcloud partnered with Collabora to integrate CODE for its users. In 2019, CIB announced that it would offer a version, branded as "LibreOffice Online powered by CIB". TDF has expressed openness to a public LibreOffice Online service provided by a charitable organization.
Supported file formats
LibreOffice uses the OpenDocument Format as its default file format, an international standard developed by the ISO and IEC. It can also open and save files in other formats, including those used by Microsoft Office, through a variety of import and export filters. LibreOffice also supports exporting to PDF, including "hybrid PDFs" that embed an editable ODF file within a standard PDF.| Format | Extension | Type | Read | Write | Notes |
| AbiWord | ABW, ZABW | Document | |||
| Adobe Flash | SWF | Graphics, multimedia | Support for writing the format was discontinued as Adobe Flash Player will no longer be maintained. | ||
| Aldus/Adobe PageMaker | PMD, PM3, PM4, PM5, PM6, P65 | Document, DTP | |||
| AppleWorks | CWK | Document | Formerly called ClarisWorks | ||
| Adobe Swatch Exchange | ASE | Color plate | |||
| Adobe FreeHand | AGD, FHD | Graphics / Vector | |||
| Apple Keynote | KTH, KEY | Presentation | |||
| Apple Numbers | numbers | Spreadsheet | |||
| Apple Pages | pages | Document | |||
| AportisDoc | PDB | Document | Requires Java | ||
| AutoCAD DXF | DXF | Graphics / CAD | |||
| BMP file format | BMP | Graphics / Raster | |||
| Comma-separated values | CSV, TXT | Text | |||
| ClarisDraw | Graphics / Vector | ||||
| CorelDRAW 6-X7 | CDR, CMX | Graphics / Vector | |||
| Computer Graphics Metafile | CGM | Graphics | Binary-encoded only | ||
| Data Interchange Format | DIF | Spreadsheet | |||
| DBase, Clipper, VP-Info, FoxPro | DBF | Database | |||
| DocBook | XML | XML | |||
| Encapsulated PostScript | EPS | Graphics | |||
| Enhanced Metafile | EMF | Graphics / Vector / Text | |||
| EPUB | EPUB | eBook | |||
| FictionBook | FB2 | eBook | |||
| GIMP Palette | GPL | Color palette | |||
| Gnumeric | GNM, GNUMERIC | Spreadsheet | |||
| Graphics Interchange Format | GIF | Graphics / Raster | |||
| Hangul WP 97 | HWP | Document | Newer documents are not supported | ||
| HPGL plotting file | PLT | Graphics | |||
| HTML | HTML, HTM | Document, text | |||
| Ichitaro 8/9/10/11 | JTD, JTT | Document | |||
| JPEG | JPG, JPEG | Graphics | |||
| Lotus 1-2-3 | WK1, WKS, 123, wk3, wk4 | Spreadsheet | |||
| Lotus Word Pro | Document | ||||
| MacDraft | Graphics / CAD | ||||
| MacDraw | Graphics / Vector | ||||
| MacDraw II | Graphics / Vector | ||||
| Macintosh Picture File | PCT | Graphics | |||
| MacWrite Pro 1.5 | Document | ||||
| MathML | MML | Math | |||
| MET | MET | ||||
| Microsoft 365 | DOCX, XLSX, PPTX | Multiple formats | |||
| Microsoft Excel 2003 XML | XML | Spreadsheet | |||
| Microsoft Excel 4/5/95 | XLS, XLW, XLT | Spreadsheet | |||
| Microsoft Excel 97–2003 | XLS, XLW, XLT | Spreadsheet | |||
| Microsoft Excel 2007–2021 | XLSX | Spreadsheet | |||
| Microsoft Excel Web Query File | IQY | Data sources, text | |||
| Microsoft Office 2007–2021 Office Open XML | DOCX, XLSX, PPTX | Multiple formats | |||
| Microsoft Pocket Excel | PXL | Spreadsheet | Requires Java | ||
| Microsoft Pocket Word | PSW | Document | Requires Java | ||
| Microsoft PowerPoint 97–2003 | PPT, PPS, POT | Presentation | |||
| Microsoft PowerPoint 2007–2021 | PPTX | Presentation | |||
| Microsoft Publisher | PUB | Document, DTP | |||
| Microsoft RTF | RTF | Document | |||
| Microsoft Word 2003 XML | XML | Document | |||
| Microsoft Word 4/5/6.0/95 | DOC, DOT | Document | |||
| Microsoft Word 97–2003 | DOC, DOT | Document | |||
| Microsoft Word 2007–2021 | DOCX | Document | |||
| Microsoft Word for Mac | Document | Word 1–5.1 | |||
| Microsoft Word for Windows 2.0 | DOC, DOT | Document | |||
| Microsoft Works | WPS, WKS, WDB | Multiple | |||
| Microsoft Write | WRI | Document | |||
| Microsoft Visio | VSD, VST, VDW, VDX, VSX, VTX, VSDX, VSDM, VSSM, VSTX, VSTM | Graphics / Vector | Most formats supported since 4.0, VSTX support added in 25.2 | ||
| Netpbm format | PGM, PBM, PPM | Graphics / Raster | |||
| OpenDocument | ODT, FODT, ODS, FODS, ODP, FODP, ODG, FODG, ODF | Multiple formats | |||
| Open Office Base | ODB | Database forms, data | |||
| OpenOffice.org XML | SXW, STW, SXC, STC, SXI, STI, SXD, STD, SXM | Multiple formats | |||
| PCX | PCX | Graphics | |||
| Photo CD | PCD | Presentation | |||
| Photoshop | PSD | Graphics | |||
| Plain text | TXT | Text | Various encodings supported | ||
| Portable Document Format | Document | Including hybrid PDF | |||
| Portable Network Graphics | PNG | Graphics / Raster | |||
| QuarkXPress 3–4 | QXP | Document, DTP | |||
| Quattro Pro 6.0 | WB2, wq1, wq2 | Spreadsheet | |||
| RagTime for Mac | |||||
| Scalable vector graphics | SVG, SVGZ | Graphics / Vector | |||
| SGV | SGV | ||||
| Software602 | 602, TXT | Document | |||
| StarOffice StarCalc 3/4/5 | SDC, VOR | Spreadsheet | nowrap | nowrap | |
| StarOffice StarDraw/StarImpress | SDA, SDD, SDP, VOR | Presentation | |||
| StarOffice StarMath | SXM | Math | |||
| StarOffice StarWriter 3/4/5 | SDW, SGL, VOR | Document | |||
| Star Writer graphics | SGF | Graphics | |||
| Sony Broad Band eBook | RLF | eBook | |||
| SunOS Raster | RAS | Graphics / Raster | |||
| SVM | SVM | Graphics / Vector | |||
| SYLK | SLK | Spreadsheet, file exchange | |||
| Tag Image File Format | TIF, TIFF | Graphics / Raster | |||
| Truevision TGA | TGA | Graphics / Raster | |||
| Unified Office Format | UOF, UOT, UOS, UOP | Multiple | |||
| Windows Metafile | WMF | Graphics, vector, bitmap | |||
| WordPerfect | WPD | Document | |||
| WordPerfect Suite 2000/Office 1.0 | WPS | Document | |||
| WriteNow 4.0 | Document | ||||
| X BitMap | XBM | Graphics / Raster | |||
| X PixMap | XPM | Graphics / Raster | |||
| Zoner Draw | ZMF | Graphics |