LibreOffice () is a free and open-source office productivity software suite developed by The Document Foundation (TDF). It was created in 2010 as a fork of OpenOffice.org, itself a successor to the discontinued StarOffice suite. The suite includes applications for word processing (Writer), spreadsheets (Calc), presentations (Impress), vector graphics (Draw), database management (Base), and formula editing (Math). It supports the OpenDocument format and is compatible with other major formats, including those used by Microsoft Office.
LibreOffice is available for Windows and macOS, and is the default office suite in many Linux distributions, and there are community builds for other platforms such as OpenIndiana.Attributable to multiple sources: Ecosystem partner Collabora uses LibreOffice as upstream code to provide a web-based suite branded as Collabora Online, along with apps for platforms not officially supported by LibreOffice, including Android, ChromeOS, iOS and iPadOS.
TDF describes LibreOffice as intended for individual users, and encourages enterprises to obtain the software and technical support services from ecosystem partners like Collabora. TDF states that most development is carried out by these commercial partners in the course of supporting enterprise customers. This arrangement has contributed to a significantly higher level of development activity compared to Apache OpenOffice, another fork of OpenOffice.org, which has struggled since 2015 to attract and retain enough contributors to sustain active development and to provide timely security updates.
LibreOffice was announced on 28 September 2010, with its first stable release in January 2011. It recorded about 7.5 million downloads in its first year, and more than 120 million by 2015, excluding those bundled with Linux distributions. As of 2018, TDF estimated around 200 million active users. The suite is available in 120 languages.
Features
Included applications in LibreOffice Component Notes Writer Word processor program, similar to Microsoft Word, with support for multiple file formats and WYSIWYG editing. Calc Spreadsheet program, similar to Microsoft Excel, with support for charts, formulas, and data analysis. Impress Presentation program, similar to Microsoft PowerPoint. Draw Vector graphics editor, and desktop publishing software similar to Microsoft Visio and Microsoft Publisher, also capable of basic image and PDF editing. Math Formula editor for mathematical expressions. Base Database management program similar to Microsoft Access, with support for local and external sources.
Operating systems and processor architectures
LibreOffice is cross-platform software. The Document Foundation officially supports Linux, macOS and Windows. Additional ports exist for other operating systems and processor architectures, maintained by commercial vendors such as Collabora or by community members, as is the case for BSD (FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD) and OpenIndiana.
Earlier versions of LibreOffice and its predecessors, including StarOffice, supported platforms such as Solaris on SPARC hardware, though these are no longer maintained.
LibreOffice development has also expanded to mobile platforms. TDF offers two mobile apps: Impress Remote for Android, iOS and iPadOS, which allows users to control presentations remotely, and a document viewer for Android. Collabora provides officially supported mobile apps with editing capabilities for Android, iOS, and iPadOS.
+ Summary of cross platform support System Architectures Current Source Android ARM64 Collabora Office BSD ARM, IA-32, x86-64, others Community port ChromeOS ARM, ARM64, IA-32, x86-64 Collabora Office iOS/iPadOS ARM64 Collabora Office Linux ARM64, IA-32, x86-64, ppc64le LibreOffice, Collabora Office, community port macOS ARM64, x86-64 LibreOffice, Collabora Office OpenIndiana x86-64 Community port Windows ARM64, IA-32 (deprecated), x86-64 LibreOffice, Collabora Office Notes
LibreOffice Online LibreOffice Online is the web-based version of the LibreOffice office suite, allowing users to view and edit documents through a web browser using the HTML5 <canvas> element. Development began in 2011, with contributions from Collabora and IceWarp. A preview of the software was demonstrated in 2015, and in December 2015, Collabora and ownCloud released a technical preview called Collabora Online Development Edition (CODE). The first source code release of LibreOffice Online occurred alongside LibreOffice version 5.3 in February 2017.
The Document Foundation does not plan to offer a hosted cloud solution similar to commercial offerings like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, due to the prohibitively high cost of running the platform. Therefore, the task has been left to third-party ecosystem partners and cloud providers, like Collabora and CIB. The first enterprise version, Collabora Online 1.0, was released in July 2016. In the same month, Nextcloud partnered with Collabora to integrate CODE for its users. In 2019, CIB announced that it would offer a version, branded as "LibreOffice Online powered by CIB". TDF has expressed openness to a public LibreOffice Online service provided by a charitable organization.
Supported file formats LibreOffice uses the OpenDocument Format (ODF) as its default file format, an international standard developed by the ISO and IEC. It can also open and save files in other formats, including those used by Microsoft Office, through a variety of import and export filters. LibreOffice also supports exporting to PDF, including "hybrid PDFs" that embed an editable ODF file within a standard PDF.
+ Supported file formats Format Extension Type Read Write Notes AbiWord ABW, ZABW Document Adobe Flash SWF Graphics, multimedia Support for writing the format was discontinued as Adobe Flash Player will no longer be maintained. Aldus/Adobe PageMaker PMD, PM3, PM4, PM5, PM6, P65 Document, DTP ClarisWorks/AppleWorks CWK Document Adobe Swatch Exchange ASE Color plate Adobe FreeHand AGD, FHD Graphics / Vector Apple Keynote KTH, KEY Presentation Apple Numbers numbers Spreadsheet Apple Pages pages Document AportisDoc (Palm) PDB Document Requires Java AutoCAD DXF DXF Graphics / CAD BMP file format BMP Graphics / Raster Comma-separated values CSV, TXT Text ClarisDraw Graphics / Vector CorelDRAW 6-X7 CDR, CMX Graphics / Vector Computer Graphics Metafile CGM Graphics Binary-encoded only Data Interchange Format DIF Spreadsheet DBase, Clipper, VP-Info, FoxPro DBF Database DocBook XML XML Encapsulated PostScript EPS Graphics Enhanced Metafile EMF Graphics / Vector / Text EPUB EPUB eBook FictionBook FB2 eBook GIMP Palette GPL Color palette Gnumeric GNM, GNUMERIC Spreadsheet Graphics Interchange Format GIF Graphics / Raster Hangul WP 97 HWP Document Newer documents are not supported HPGL plotting file PLT Graphics HTML HTML, HTM Document, text Ichitaro 8/9/10/11 JTD, JTT Document JPEG JPG, JPEG Graphics Lotus 1-2-3 WK1, WKS, 123, wk3, wk4 Spreadsheet Lotus Word Pro Document MacDraft Graphics / CAD MacDraw Graphics / Vector MacDraw II Graphics / Vector Macintosh Picture FileAbout.Com – PCT File . Retrieved 12 January 2014. PCT Graphics MacWrite Pro 1.5 Document Markdown MARKDOWN, MD Document MathML MML Math MET MET Microsoft Office XP/2003 XML(WordprocessingML/SpreadsheetML) XML Multiple formats Microsoft Excel 4/5/95 XLS, XLW, XLT Spreadsheet Microsoft Excel 97–2003 XLS, XLW, XLT Spreadsheet Microsoft Excel Web Query File IQY Data sources, text Microsoft Office 2007–2024/ Microsoft 365 Office Open XML DOCX, XLSX, PPTX Multiple formats Microsoft Pocket Excel PXL Spreadsheet Requires Java Microsoft Pocket Word PSW Document Requires Java Microsoft PowerPoint 97–2003 PPT, PPS, POT Presentation Microsoft Publisher PUB Document, DTP Microsoft Rich Text RTF Document Microsoft Word 4/5/6/95 DOC, DOT Document Microsoft Word 97–2003 DOC, DOT Document Microsoft Word for Mac Document Word 1–5.1 Microsoft Word for Windows 2.0 DOC, DOT Document Microsoft Works WPS, WKS, WDB Multiple Microsoft Write WRI Document Microsoft Visio VSD, VST, VDW, VDX, VSX, VTX, VSDX, VSDM, VSSM, VSTX, VSTM Graphics / Vector Most formats supported since 4.0, VSTX support added in 25.2 Netpbm format PGM, PBM, PPM Graphics / Raster OpenDocument ODT, FODT, ODS, FODS, ODP, FODP, ODG, FODG, ODF Multiple formats Open Office Base ODB Database forms, data OpenOffice.org XML SXW, STW, SXC, STC, SXI, STI, SXD, STD, SXM Multiple formats PCX PCX Graphics Photo CD PCD Presentation Photoshop PSD Graphics Plain text TXT Text Various encodings supported Portable Document Format PDF Document Including hybrid PDF Portable Network Graphics PNG Graphics / Raster QuarkXPress 3–4 QXP Document, DTP Quattro Pro 6.0 WB2, wq1, wq2 Spreadsheet RagTime for Mac Scalable Vector Graphics SVG, SVGZ Graphics / Vector SGV SGV Software602 (T602) 602, TXT Document StarOffice StarCalc 3/4/5 SDC, VOR Spreadsheet nowrap nowrap StarOffice StarDraw/StarImpress SDA, SDD, SDP, VOR Presentation StarOffice StarMath 3/4/5 SMF Math StarOffice StarWriter 3/4/5 SDW, SGL, VOR Document Star Writer graphics SGF Graphics Sony Broad Band eBook RLF eBook SunOS Raster RAS Graphics / Raster SVM SVM Graphics / Vector SYLK SLK Spreadsheet, file exchange Tag Image File Format TIF, TIFF Graphics / Raster Truevision TGA (Targa) TGA Graphics / Raster Unified Office Format UOF, UOT, UOS, UOP Multiple Windows Metafile WMF Graphics, vector, bitmap WordPerfect WPD Document WordPerfect Suite 2000/Office 1.0 WPS Document WriteNow 4.0 Document X BitMap XBM Graphics / Raster X PixMap XPM Graphics / Raster Zoner Draw ZMF Graphics
User interface and customization
The suite offers several user interface modes, including a traditional menu and toolbar layout as well as a "Tabbed" option that mimics the ribbon interface found in Microsoft Office. LibreOffice includes multiple icon themes to adapt its look and feel to that of its desktop environment, such as Colibre for Windows and Elementary for GNOME, and integrates with native UI frameworks like GTK and Qt (both on Linux), Windows, MacOS for consistent appearance.
LibreOffice supports a range of advanced typographic features through its use of OpenType, Graphite, and Apple Advanced Typography font technologies. Text rendering on Linux systems uses the Cairo graphics library, and complex text layout is handled by the HarfBuzz engine. On Linux, support for multimedia in presentations, such as audio and video playback, is provided via the GStreamer framework.
LibreOffice supports several scripting and programming languages, including LibreOffice Basic, Python, Java, and C++, which can be used to create macros or integrate with external applications. LibreOffice Basic, which is similar to Microsoft's Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), is used primarily for automating tasks within Writer, Calc, and Base.
Licensing LibreOffice is licensed under a dual LGPLv3 (or later) and MPL 2.0 model, which allows flexibility for future license upgrades. The project continues efforts to rebase legacy code inherited from OpenOffice.org to ensure licensing compatibility.
History
Background LibreOffice traces its origins to OpenOffice.org, an open-source office suite that itself was based on StarOffice, a proprietary productivity software suite developed by German company Star Division beginning in 1985. In August 1999, Star Division was acquired by Sun Microsystems for (equivalent to US$million in ), reportedly because the acquisition was less expensive than licensing Microsoft Office for Sun's 42,000 employees. In July 2000, Sun announced it would release the source code of StarOffice as an open-source project, which became known as OpenOffice.org (styled with a ".org" to avoid trademark conflicts). The code was made available in October 2000, a public preview was released in October 2001, and OpenOffice.org 1.0 was officially released in May 2002.