Online RDF converter and validator to JSON-LD, Microdata, Turtle, TriG, RDF-star or any other serialization format

Resource Description Framework or short RDF is a standard for describing information on the Web in a machine-readable way, developed by The World Wide Web Consortium. One of its main functions is to allow information exchange from different domains and between different applications. Its core concept is based on making statements about resources. This is achieved with using RDF data model which describes information as a subject-predicate-object model, or so-called triples. Read more about RDF .

RDF data model makes such information independent of serialization syntax so that you can use markup in any of RDF formats, it will always lead to exactly the same triples. This means that RDF formats are interchangeable: the markup in any format - JSON-LD, Microdata, Turtle or RDFa etc. - will always contain the same information. You can see check it by using our RDF visualizer, and visualizing different formats, that will yield the same RDF graph.

What is an RDF graph?

An RDF graph is a set of RDF statements (data model), which always have the same structure, regardless of the format, that consist of three parts:

subject predicate object

which is why they are called triples.

Use our RDF graph visualization tool to read more about it, and visualize linked data RDF as a connected graph, as well as to validate the markup.

What are RDF formats?

There are many different serialization formats for encoding structured data, which is logical, due to RDF's interoperable nature. What is important for RDF is that its triples-based data model is independent of serialization syntax, what makes different formats interchangeable: writing down markup in any of RDF formats lead to exactly the same triples.

There are, however, some distinctions: some formats can be written in a separate file, some in markup; some support RDF features, some are less verbose; some support describing one dataset, some many at once. Distinctions can be viewed from readability, serialization and writing aspects, so let's take a quick glance at some of the commonly used RDF serialization formats and their features:

List of RDF serialization formats:

1. RDF/XML (XML syntax for RDF)

   Format which defines an XML syntax for RDF. In the beginning of RDF, it was the first and only syntax for RDF, and today it is often called just RDF.
   It represents RDF data model as an XML syntax — elements and attributes and its contents and values and so on. Just like XML, it is hard for humans to read it, and it is more appropriate for computers, usually supporting XML-based infrastructure.

   File extension:

   .rdf

   Internet Media Type / MIME Type:

   application/rdf+xml

   Reference:
   RDF 1.1 XML Syntax

   Example 1: RDF/XML

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
   <rdf:RDF
   	 xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
   	 xmlns:schema="http://schema.org/">
   	<rdf:Description rdf:about="https://issemantic.net/#website">
   		<schema:url rdf:resource="https://issemantic.net/"/>
   		<schema:isAccessibleForFree>True</schema:isAccessibleForFree>
   		<schema:image rdf:resource="https://issemantic.net/img/info.png"/>
   		<rdf:type rdf:resource="http://schema.org/WebSite"/>
   		<schema:inLanguage>en</schema:inLanguage>
   		<schema:name>:isSemantic.net</schema:name>
   		<schema:description>Validate, visualize, generate and convert structured data on your website, with validation markup against Schema.org, Google Search, Open Graph and other vocabularies, with visual representation as an RDF graph model</schema:description>
   	</rdf:Description>
   </rdf:RDF>
   

2. RDFa (for HTML and XML embedding)

   Short for RDF in attributes (RDFa 1.1 Lite), brings together HTML and RDF, convenient for marking up web pages. This format adds structured data markup directly to HTML pages and XML documents by embedding special attributes to the HTML/XML, making it both human and machine readable at the same time. Format is very convenient for search engines, which can use it to enrich search results. Supported by major search engines.

   File extension:

   .html, .xhtml

   Internet Media Type / MIME Type:

   application/xhtml+xml, text/html

   Reference:
   RDFa 1.1 Lite

   Example 2: RDFa

   <div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
   	prefix="
       schema: http://schema.org/
       rdf: http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#
       rdfs: http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#">
   	<div typeof="schema:WebSite" about="https://issemantic.net/#website">
   		<div rel="schema:url" resource="https://issemantic.net/"></div>
   		<div rel="schema:image" resource="https://issemantic.net/img/info.png"></div>
   		<div property="schema:description" content="Validate, visualize, generate and convert structured data on your website, with validation markup against Schema.org, Google Search, Open Graph and other vocabularies, with visual representation as an RDF graph model"></div>
   		<div property="schema:name" content=":isSemantic.net"></div>
   		<div property="schema:isAccessibleForFree" content="True"></div>
   		<div property="schema:inLanguage" content="en"></div>
   	</div>
   </div>
   

3. HTML5 Microdata

   Just like RDFa, Microdata uses HTML attributes to embed machine-readable data in HTML documents. Microdata is a simplified, less expressive than RDFa, and supports less RDF features. Very convenient form marking up web pages. One limit is that it can be used only in (X)HTML5 markup. Appropriate for both human and machine consumption, ideal for adding simple markup to blogs and articles in combination with Schema.org vocabulary. Supported by major search engines.

   File extension:

   .html

   Internet Media Type / MIME Type:

   text/html

   Reference:
   HTML Microdata

   Example 3: Microdata

   <div>
   	<div itemtype="http://schema.org/WebSite" itemid="https://issemantic.net/#website" itemscope>
   		<link itemprop="url" href="https://issemantic.net/" />
   		<meta itemprop="inLanguage" content="en" />
   		<link itemprop="image" href="https://issemantic.net/img/info.png" />
   		<meta itemprop="isAccessibleForFree" content="True" />
   		<meta itemprop="name" content=":isSemantic.net" />
   		<meta itemprop="description" content="Validate, visualize, generate and convert structured data on your website, with validation markup against Schema.org, Google Search, Open Graph and other vocabularies, with visual representation as an RDF graph model" />
   	</div>
   </div>
   

4. N3 (Notation3)

   N3 is an RDF format created with desire to make RDF more readable for humans, in contrast to complexity of RDF/XML. Format is easy to write, since it is very similar to RDF triples data model, as well as natural language sentences.

   File extension:

   .n3

   Internet Media Type / MIME Type:

   application/n3, text/n3

   Reference:
   Notation3 (N3): A readable RDF syntax

   Example 4: N3/Turtle

   @prefix schema: <http://schema.org/> .
   
   <https://issemantic.net/#website> a schema:WebSite ;
   		schema:description "Validate, visualize, generate and convert structured data on your website, with validation markup against Schema.org, Google Search, Open Graph and other vocabularies, with visual representation as an RDF graph model" ;
   		schema:image <https://issemantic.net/img/info.png> ;
   		schema:inLanguage "en" ;
   		schema:isAccessibleForFree "True" ;
   		schema:name ":isSemantic.net" ;
   		schema:url <https://issemantic.net/> .
   

5. Turtle family of RDF languages (N-Triples, Turtle, TriG and N-Quads)

   Following formats are mostly subsets of N3, also created with human consumption in mind. Because of their similarities, they are grouped together (hence the family).

   1. N-Triples

      Subset of Turtle format, less easy to read for humans, doesn't support many RDF features. It is a line-based, plain text format, which makes its serialization very fast, so it is an appropriate format for serializing and exchanging large sets of data.

      File extension:

      .nt

      Internet Media Type / MIME Type:

      application/n-triples

      Reference:
      RDF 1.1 N-Triples

      Example 5: N-Triples

      <https://issemantic.net/#website> <http://schema.org/inLanguage> "en" .
      <https://issemantic.net/#website> <http://schema.org/image> <https://issemantic.net/img/info.png> .
      <https://issemantic.net/#website> <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> <http://schema.org/WebSite> .
      <https://issemantic.net/#website> <http://schema.org/isAccessibleForFree> "True" .
      <https://issemantic.net/#website> <http://schema.org/name> ":isSemantic.net" .
      <https://issemantic.net/#website> <http://schema.org/description> "Validate, visualize, generate and convert structured data on your website, with validation markup against Schema.org, Google Search, Open Graph and other vocabularies, with visual representation as an RDF graph model" .
      <https://issemantic.net/#website> <http://schema.org/url> <https://issemantic.net/> .
      

   2. Turtle (Terse RDF Triple Language)

      Hybrid format between N3 and N-Triples: it supports many RDF syntactic features, but it is less robust than N3, it is almost interchangeable with N3. It combines ease of writing, serialization and readability, which makes it very useful when dealing with semantic data, both for humans and machines, although its processing is more costly than line based formats.

      File extension:

      .ttl

      Internet Media Type / MIME Type:

      text/turtle, application/x-turtle

      Reference:
      RDF 1.1 Turtle

      Example 6: Turtle/N3

      @prefix schema: <http://schema.org/> .
      
      <https://issemantic.net/#website> a schema:WebSite ;
      		schema:description "Validate, visualize, generate and convert structured data on your website, with validation markup against Schema.org, Google Search, Open Graph and other vocabularies, with visual representation as an RDF graph model" ;
      		schema:image <https://issemantic.net/img/info.png> ;
      		schema:inLanguage "en" ;
      		schema:isAccessibleForFree "True" ;
      		schema:name ":isSemantic.net" ;
      		schema:url <https://issemantic.net/> .
      

   3. TriG

      Turtle supports only one dataset (graph), so it was extended to allow describing multiple datatests/graphs as a TriG format. As you can see, syntax is almost identical to Turtle syntax, but for addition of curly braces, which denote graphs, i.e. separate datasets in a single description.

      File extension:

      .trig

      Internet Media Type / MIME Type:

      application/trig

      Reference:
      RDF 1.1 TriG

      Example 7: TriG

      @prefix schema: <http://schema.org/> .
      
      _:b1 {
          <https://issemantic.net/#website> a schema:WebSite ;
      				schema:description "Validate, visualize, generate and convert structured data on your website, with validation markup against Schema.org, Google Search, Open Graph and other vocabularies, with visual representation as an RDF graph model" ;
      				schema:image <https://issemantic.net/img/info.png> ;
      				schema:inLanguage "en" ;
      				schema:isAccessibleForFree "True" ;
      				schema:name ":isSemantic.net" ;
      				schema:url <https://issemantic.net/> .
      }
      

   4. N-Quads

      Extension of N-Triples. Same as TriG, only it allows adding graphs and does not support many RDF features. In contrast to TriG, this is a line-based format, so graph is also added line-based, as a fourth element to the triples statement. It visually appears like N-Triples with extra element. Just like N-Triples, it is an appropriate format for processing and exchanging large datasets.

      File extension:

      .nq

      Internet Media Type / MIME Type:

      application/n-quads

      Reference:
      RDF 1.1 N-Quads

      Example 8: N-Quads

      <https://issemantic.net/#website> <http://schema.org/image> <https://issemantic.net/img/info.png>  <https://issemantic.net/graph> .
      <https://issemantic.net/#website> <http://schema.org/url> <https://issemantic.net/> <https://issemantic.net/graph>  <https://issemantic.net/graph> .
      <https://issemantic.net/#website> <http://schema.org/inLanguage> "en"  .
      <https://issemantic.net/#website> <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> <http:/ <https://issemantic.net/graph>/schema.org/WebSite>  <https://issemantic.net/graph> .
      <https://issemantic.net/#website> <http://schema.org/name> ":isSemantic.net"  <https://issemantic.net/graph> .
      <https://issemantic.net/#website> <http://schema.org/description> "Validate, visualize, generate <https://issemantic.net/graph> and convert structured data on your website, with validation markup against Schema.org, Google Search, Open Graph and other vocabularies, with visual representation as an <https://issemantic.net/graph> RDF graph model"  <https://issemantic.net/graph> .
      <https://issemantic.net/#website> <http://schema.org/isAccessibleForFree> "True"  <https://issemantic.net/graph> .
      

6. JSON-LD (JSON-based RDF syntax)

   Short for JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data. Format that defines a JSON syntax for RDF, making JSON-LD a valid JSON, what makes it more familiar, due to JSON popularity. It supports RDF features, what makes its processing more costly and slower than other formats. Advantage is that it can be written in a separate file, or added via <script> tag. Supported by major search engines and preferable by Google Search.

   File extension:

   .jsonld

   Internet Media Type / MIME Type:

   application/ld+json

   Reference:
   JSON-LD 1.1 A JSON-based Serialization for Linked Datas

   Example 9: JSON-LD

   {
   	"@context": "http://schema.org/",
   	"@id": "https://issemantic.net/#website",
   	"@type": "WebSite",
   	"description": "Validate, visualize, generate and convert structured data on your website, with validation markup against Schema.org, Google Search, Open Graph and other vocabularies, with visual representation as an RDF graph model",
   	"image": "https://issemantic.net/#website",
   	"inLanguage": "en",
   	"isAccessibleForFree": "True",
   	"name": ":isSemantic.net",
   	"url": "https://issemantic.net/"
   }