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Qt TS format

Qt Linguist TS is the bilingual XML format used by Qt's lupdate and lrelease tools to carry UI translations. A <TS> document groups one or more <context> elements; each context groups <message> entries with a <source> and a <translation>. Translation state is encoded on the <translation> element's type attribute — no type means approved, unfinished means pending review, and obsolete means the entry is unused. Plural messages (numerus="yes") carry one <numerusform> per locale plural form. Inline non-XML bytes appear as <byte value="…"/> elements.

The reader extracts each message's source as a translatable block, matched with its existing translation, and preserves the context and message structure for the writer. The format is detected by sniffing for a <TS> … </TS> document rather than by the .ts extension, which collides with TypeScript.

IDts
SourceBuilt-in
MIME Typesapplication/x-ts, application/x-linguist
CapabilitiesRead + Write

This format has no configurable parameters.

Examples

Translate a Qt UI catalogue

No configuration is required. Declare the format to extract each <message> source and merge translations back into the .ts document.

format:
  name: ts

Processing notes

  • One translatable block per <message>; context and message structure round-trip as skeleton.

  • Plural messages carry one <numerusform> per locale plural form.

  • Translation state (approved / unfinished / obsolete) is read from the <translation> type attribute.

Limitations

  • The format is not auto-detected by the .ts file extension (it conflicts with TypeScript); detection relies on sniffing the <TS> root element or an explicit format declaration.

  • Non-XML bytes (<byte value="…"/> elements) are surfaced as inline placeholder runs and preserved through exchange; they are not decoded to their raw character equivalents on read.

  • There are no configurable parameters; behaviour follows the default contract.

Reference documentation

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