Reference

ODS (OpenDocument Spreadsheet)

ODS is the OpenDocument Spreadsheet format — an open, ISO-standardized spreadsheet file used by default in LibreOffice Calc and other open-source office suites. It is the free, vendor-neutral counterpart to Microsoft Excel’s XLSX.

Files & formatsGeneral

ODS (OpenDocument Spreadsheet)

Also known as: OpenDocument Spreadsheet, ods file, LibreOffice Calc spreadsheet

Open ISO standard (ODF) for spreadsheets
Native format of LibreOffice and OpenOffice Calc
Excel can open it; export to XLSX or PDF to share

What ODS is

ODS is part of the OpenDocument Format (ODF) family standardized as ISO/IEC 26300. An .ods file is a ZIP container of XML that stores cells, formulas, charts, and multiple sheets in an open, royalty-free structure.

LibreOffice Calc and OpenOffice Calc save in ODS by default. The format supports the same building blocks as Excel — formulas, pivot tables, and charts — using open specifications.

Opening and converting ODS

Microsoft Excel can open and save ODS files, though complex macros and some functions may not transfer cleanly. For reliable sharing with Excel users, export to XLSX; for a fixed, printable copy, export to PDF.

Spreadsheets stay compact when they hold data and formulas. File size grows mainly from embedded images, large datasets, or many cached chart elements.

Related terms

Keep reading the reference.

Files & formatsXLSX (Excel)XLSX is the default file format for Microsoft Excel spreadsheets since Excel 2007. Like DOCX, it is a ZIP package of XML, so even large data tables stay compact unless they hold embedded charts, images, or heavy formatting.General Files & formatsCSVCSV (comma-separated values) is a plain-text format that stores tabular data as rows of values separated by commas. It carries no formatting, formulas, or charts, which makes CSV files tiny and universally readable across apps and programming languages.General Files & formatsPDFPDF (Portable Document Format) is a fixed-layout document format that looks the same on any device. Most PDFs are small, but scanned documents and image-heavy files can grow large, and they accumulate quietly in Downloads and the Files app.General Files & formatsODT (OpenDocument Text)ODT is the OpenDocument Text format — an open, ISO-standardized word-processing file used by default in LibreOffice Writer and other open-source office suites. It is the free, vendor-neutral counterpart to Microsoft Word’s DOCX.General

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