.VCF File Extension

A VCF file is a standard file format for storing contact information for a person or business. It typically includes a name, address, phone number, email address, and other contact information. VCF files also support custom fields, images, and other types of media.

VCF files are often used for importing and exporting contacts from address books. They may be attached to e-mail messages, which provides the recipient with an easy way to import the sender's contact information.

Windows users can open vCards using the included Windows Contacts program. Mac OS X users can open vCards with the included Contacts application. iPod and iPhone users can load vCards directly into the device's Contacts app. Android users can also load vCards using the Contacts app bundled with the operating system.

VCF files may be created from other file formats. For example, .XLS or .XLSX files can be saved as .CSV files in Microsoft Excel then converted to VCF files using simple converter programs, such as CSV to vCard.

NOTE: vCards are saved in a text format, which means you can view the contents in a text editor. However, they may also include a block of binary data, which is often used to store a photo.

A VCF file is a text file used in bioinformatics to store information about variant genetic sequences. It contains metadata that describes the file's format, source, created on date, and reference genome, and it contains column-formatted genetic sequencing data. VCF files are used as part of large-scale genotyping and DNA sequencing projects, such as the 1000 Genomes Project.

Because VCF files are plain text files, you can open and examine them using any text editor, such as Microsoft Notepad (Windows), Apple TextEdit (Mac), or GitHub Atom (cross-platform).

However, VCF files are meant to be used as part of genotyping and DNA sequencing catalogs. Those working with these catalogs can use the open-source VCFtools library (cross-platform) to edit and manipulate VCF files.