Document Encoding Format

A document encoding format is used to structure and store documents and is the bedrock of DocOps technology . Most DocOps workflows conclude with the creation and conversion of documents using one or more document encoding formats. The most common document encoding formats are as follows:

Format	Type	Target Format
AsciiDoc	IDF	Agnostic
DocBook	IDF	Agnostic
EPUB	Render	eBook
HTML	Render	Web
LaTeX	Render	Paper
Microsoft Word	Render	Paper
Markdown	IDF	Web (others if adopting specific flavors)
OpenDocument	Render	Paper
PDF	Render	Paper (in most cases)
reST (reStructuredText)	IDF	Agnostic
Wiki markup	IDF	Web
XML	IDF	Depends on specific schema

A document encoding format is said to be an intermediate document format (IDF) if it is normally meant to be converted to a final ‘render’ one.

Intermediate Document Format (IDF)

An intermediate document format (IDF) does not typically contain directives that are specific to a given render target; instead, they describe the document semantically. An IDF is then used to generate documents in one or more final render formats.

Render

A render document format includes directives that help control the layout of the document, according to the possibilities applicable to specific paper and electronic formats.