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vCard

vCard is the Acronym for Virtual Card

A standardized file format for storing and exchanging contact information, vCard is widely supported by email clients, mobile devices, and contact management applications. It allows users to easily share contact details such as names, phone numbers, email addresses, and more between different platforms and devices. The terms vCard and VCF (Virtual Contact File) are often used interchangeably, with VCF being the more common file type. Both are plain text files that follow a specific structure to organize contact information.

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
N:LastName;FirstName;MiddleName;Prefix;Suffix
FN:FullName
ORG:Organization
TITLE:JobTitle
TEL;TYPE=WORK,VOICE:PhoneNumber
TEL;TYPE=CELL:MobileNumber
ADR;TYPE=WORK:;;StreetAddress;City;State;ZipCode;Country
EMAIL;TYPE=PREF,INTERNET:EmailAddress
URL:WebsiteURL
END:VCARD

Basic Structure

The vCard format uses a structured text format where each piece of information is stored on a separate line, with a specific prefix identifying the data type. The basic structure includes fields for names, organization details, phone numbers, addresses, email addresses, and URLs. The format begins with a BEGIN:VCARD line and ends with an END:VCARD line, with version information and various data fields in between.

  • Version: The vCard version is specified using the VERSION field, with versions 2.1, 3.0, and 4.0 being the most common.
  • Name: The name fields include N (structured name) and FN (formatted name) to store different parts of a person’s name.
  • Organization: The ORG field stores the organization name, while the TITLE field stores the job title.
  • Phone: The TEL field stores phone numbers, with TYPE specifying the type of phone number (e.g., work, cell).
  • Address: The ADR field stores address information, with TYPE specifying the type of address (e.g., work, home).
  • Email: The EMAIL field stores email addresses, with TYPE specifying the type of email (e.g., preferred, internet).
  • URL: The URL field stores website URLs.

Versions and Compatibility

vCard has evolved over time, with multiple versions introducing new features and improvements.

  • vCard 2.1: An older version of the format, still widely supported.
  • vCard 3.0: An updated version with added features and properties.
  • vCard 4.0: The latest version, introduced in 2011, with improvements in areas such as multilingual support and data validation.

Most modern contact management systems and email clients support vCard 3.0 and 4.0 formats while retaining backward compatibility with vCard 2.1.

Applications and Use Cases

vCard is used as a data interchange format in various applications and devices, including smartphone contacts, personal digital assistants (PDAs), personal information managers (PIMs), and customer relationship management systems (CRMs). It can be attached to email messages, sent via Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), shared on the World Wide Web, or exchanged through instant messaging, NFC, or QR codes.

vCard Variants

To accommodate different data interchange applications, various "vCard variants" have been proposed as "variant standards," each tailored for a specific niche. These include XML representation, JSON representation, and web pages.