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World Wide Web Consortium

W3C

The main international standards organization for the World Wide Web, developing open web standards and guidelines.

Standards Body Active

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the principal international standards organization for the World Wide Web. Founded in 1994 by Tim Berners-Lee, W3C develops standards and guidelines to ensure the long-term growth and accessibility of the web. Its work encompasses core web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and XML, as well as metadata-relevant specifications including RDF, OWL, SKOS, and JSON-LD that form the backbone of the Semantic Web and linked data ecosystems.

Standards (33)

Activity Streams 2.0

(AS2)

A JSON-LD vocabulary for representing social activities, powering ActivityPub and the fediverse.

Conceptual Data Model / Framework active World Wide Web Consortium Updated May 23, 2017

ActivityPub

A W3C protocol for decentralized social networking, enabling server-to-server federation across the fediverse.

Technical Specification active World Wide Web Consortium Updated January 23, 2018

CSV on the Web

(CSVW)

A W3C standard for annotating CSV files with datatypes, relationships, and conversion rules.

Technical Specification active World Wide Web Consortium Updated December 17, 2015

Data Catalog Vocabulary

(DCAT)

A W3C vocabulary for describing datasets and data services in federated catalogs on the web.

Ontology active World Wide Web Consortium Updated August 22, 2024

Data Privacy Vocabulary

(DPV)

Provides structured concepts for describing personal data processing, privacy rights, and legal bases.

Ontology active W3C Data Privacy Vocabularies and Controls Community Group Updated February 25, 2026

Data Quality Vocabulary

(DQV)

Provides an RDF vocabulary for describing and assessing data quality dimensions, metrics, and certificates.

Ontology active World Wide Web Consortium Updated December 15, 2016

EPUB

(EPUB)

The dominant open format for reflowable digital books, packaging HTML, CSS, and media in one file.

Technical Specification active World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Updated January 13, 2026

Hydra Core Vocabulary

(Hydra)

Describes hypermedia-driven Web APIs in machine-readable form, enabling clients to discover operations at runtime.

Ontology active Hydra W3C Community Group Est. 2013

JSON-LD 1.1

(JSON-LD)

Embeds linked data semantics in ordinary JSON using a lightweight context mechanism.

Technical Specification active World Wide Web Consortium Updated July 16, 2020

Lexicon Model for Ontologies (OntoLex-Lemon)

(OntoLex)

Represents lexicographic and linguistic data as RDF, linking lexical entries to ontology concepts and meanings.

Ontology active W3C Ontology-Lexica Community Group Updated May 10, 2016

Linked Data Platform

(LDP)

Defines HTTP conventions for reading, creating, updating, and deleting linked data resources and containers.

Technical Specification active World Wide Web Consortium Updated February 26, 2015

Mathematical Markup Language

(MathML)

A W3C standard for encoding mathematical notation and semantics in XML for the web.

Technical Specification active World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Est. 1998

Open Digital Rights Language

(ODRL)

Expresses machine-readable policies for permissions, prohibitions, and obligations over digital content.

Ontology active World Wide Web Consortium Updated February 15, 2018

OWL 2 Web Ontology Language

(OWL)

A knowledge representation language for building formal, machine-reasoned ontologies on the Semantic Web.

Technical Specification active World Wide Web Consortium Updated December 11, 2012

PROV: Provenance Data Model and Supporting Definitions

(PROV)

Models the provenance of data and things by tracking entities, activities, and the agents responsible.

Ontology active World Wide Web Consortium Updated April 30, 2013

R2RML: RDB to RDF Mapping Language

(R2RML)

Expresses customized mappings from relational database schemas and data to RDF datasets using a standard language.

Technical Specification active World Wide Web Consortium Updated September 27, 2012

RDF Data Cube Vocabulary

Publishes multi-dimensional statistical and aggregate data as linked data using RDF and SDMX concepts.

Ontology active World Wide Web Consortium Updated January 16, 2014

RDF Schema

(RDFS)

Adds classes, properties, and type hierarchies to raw RDF triples for simple ontological modeling.

Technical Specification active World Wide Web Consortium Updated February 25, 2014

Resource Description Framework

(RDF)

The graph-based data model of subject-predicate-object triples that underpins the entire Semantic Web.

Technical Specification active World Wide Web Consortium Updated February 25, 2014

Resource Description Framework in Attributes

(RDFa)

Embeds structured RDF metadata directly within HTML and XML markup using simple element attributes.

Technical Specification active World Wide Web Consortium Updated March 17, 2015

Semantic Sensor Network Ontology

(SSN/SOSA)

Models sensors, actuators, and their observations for IoT, scientific monitoring, and smart cities.

Ontology active World Wide Web Consortium / Open Geospatial Consortium Updated October 19, 2017

Shapes Constraint Language

(SHACL)

Validates RDF graphs against shape definitions that constrain structure, types, and values.

Technical Specification active World Wide Web Consortium Updated July 20, 2017

Simple Knowledge Organization System

(SKOS)

Represents thesauri, taxonomies, and classification schemes as machine-readable linked data.

Ontology active W3C Updated August 18, 2009

Solid Protocol

(Solid)

A decentralized web platform that gives individuals control over their personal data through linked data pods.

Technical Specification active Solid Project Updated September 26, 2024

SPARQL Protocol and RDF Query Language

(SPARQL)

The standard query language and protocol for retrieving and manipulating data stored in RDF format.

Technical Specification active World Wide Web Consortium Updated March 21, 2013

Terse RDF Triple Language

(Turtle)

A compact, human-readable syntax for writing RDF graphs using subject-predicate-object triples.

Technical Specification active World Wide Web Consortium Updated February 25, 2014

The Organization Ontology

(ORG)

A core ontology for publishing organizational structures, membership, and hierarchy as linked data.

Ontology active World Wide Web Consortium Updated January 16, 2014

Time Ontology in OWL

(OWL-Time)

An OWL ontology for temporal concepts including instants, intervals, durations, and calendar systems.

Ontology active World Wide Web Consortium / Open Geospatial Consortium Updated November 15, 2022

vCard Ontology

An OWL ontology that brings contact information from the vCard standard into the Semantic Web.

Ontology active World Wide Web Consortium Updated May 22, 2014

Verifiable Credentials Data Model

(VC)

A data model for issuing tamper-evident digital credentials that holders can present and verifiers can trust.

Conceptual Data Model / Framework active World Wide Web Consortium Updated May 4, 2025

Vocabulary of Interlinked Datasets

(VoID)

An RDF vocabulary for describing the structure, access methods, and linkage of published datasets.

Ontology active W3C Semantic Web Interest Group Updated March 3, 2011

W3C Basic Geo Vocabulary (WGS84)

(WGS84 Geo)

Provides simple latitude, longitude, and altitude properties for describing geographic locations in RDF graphs.

Ontology active World Wide Web Consortium Updated November 1, 2009

Web Annotation Data Model

A structured model for attaching comments, tags, and other content to specific parts of web resources.

Conceptual Data Model / Framework active World Wide Web Consortium Updated February 23, 2017