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HTML
What is an HTML file?
The web page format. Converting it to PDF is how a page becomes something you can archive or print.
What HTML is
HTML is a plain-text format you can open in any editor. It can hold both pixels and drawn shapes on the same page. It is used for the web and editing.
The extension is .html, and the full name is HyperText Markup Language. Both matter less than what the file can hold, which is what the rest of this page is about.
Where HTML came from
W3C published it in 1993. The specification is HTML Living Standard.
A format that has been readable for that long is a format worth trusting with something you want back in ten years.
The specification is public
Anyone can implement it without asking permission or paying a licence, which is why it turns up in so many programs and why files written twenty years ago still open.
What opens HTML
Visual Studio Code and any web browser read it, and so do most programs of the same kind.
If a file will not open, the format is rarely the problem — it is more often that the program predates it. Converting to something older is the reliable way past that, and it is what the rest of this site is for.
Opening it in a browser
Every current browser reads it.
That makes it a safe thing to put on a page or attach to a message without wondering what the other end has installed.
It is a working format
HTML is meant to be opened and changed. Keep the file in this format for as long as the work is going on, and export from it whenever a finished copy is needed.
The facts, in one place
| Extension | .html, .htm |
|---|---|
| Media type | text/html |
| Published by | W3C |
| First published | 1993 |
| Specification | HTML Living Standard |