XLIFF 1.2 format (.xlf, .xliff)

XLIFF 1.2 is the OASIS XML interchange standard for bilingual content, the exchange format that translation tools and TMS platforms use to move content between extraction and translation. A document groups <trans-unit> elements under <file> containers, each unit holding a <source> and an optional <target>, with inline markup represented through paired (bpt/ept, g) or standalone (x, ph) code elements and segmentation expressed via <seg-source> and <mrk mtype="seg">.

The reader emits one block per translatable <trans-unit>, carrying the source, any existing target, segmentation, alt-trans matches, and unit metadata. The writer updates targets and, by default, the target state attribute, so a round-tripped file reflects translation progress. This mirrors Okapi's XLIFF 1.2 filter.

IDxliff

SourceBuilt-in

Extensions.xlf, .xliff

MIME Typesapplication/xliff+xml, application/x-xliff+xml

CapabilitiesRead + Write

How kapi reads it

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
addAltTrans	boolean	false	Allow addition of new alt-trans elements
addTargetLanguage	boolean	true	Add the target-language attribute to file elements if not already present
allowEmptyTargets	boolean	false	Allow target elements with empty content to be written
alwaysAddTargets	boolean	false	Add target elements for monolingual XLIFF files that have no target in the source
codeFinderRules	array		Regex patterns that match inline codes within translatable text
editAltTrans	boolean	false	Allow editing of existing alt-trans elements
fallbackToID	boolean	false	Use the trans-unit id attribute as the block name when no resname attribute is present
forceUniqueIds	boolean	false	Rewrite trans-unit IDs to enforce uniqueness across the file
ignoreInputSegmentation	boolean	false	Ignore seg-source/mrk segmentation from the input XLIFF and treat the full source as a single segment
includeExtensions	boolean	true	Include non-standard namespace extension elements in extracted content
includeIts	boolean	true	Include ITS (Internationalization Tag Set) markup in extracted content
overrideTargetLanguage	boolean	false	Override the target-language attribute in the output document with the pipeline target locale
preserveSpaceByDefault	boolean	false	Treat all content as xml:space="preserve" unless explicitly overridden
targetStateValue	string	needs-translation	State value to set on target elements when useTranslationTargetState is enabled
useCodeFinder	boolean	false	Enable regex-based inline code detection in translatable text
useTranslationTargetState	boolean	true	Update the state attribute on target elements when writing translated XLIFF

Configure it live

Configuration

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Configuration output

vs defaultsno changes

apiVersion: neokapi/v1
kind: XliffFormatConfig
metadata:
  name: xliff
spec:
  # (default configuration)

Examples

Mark targets as translated

Write a final target state instead of the default needs-translation.

useTranslationTargetState: true
targetStateValue: translated

Flatten input segmentation

Treat each source as one segment, ignoring seg-source markers.

ignoreInputSegmentation: true

Processing notes

• One block is emitted per translatable <trans-unit>; units marked translate="no" are passed through as non-translatable.

• Inline markup (bpt/ept, g, x, ph) and <seg-source>/<mrk mtype="seg"> segmentation are read into the block.

Reference documentation

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