This page follows vCard 4.0, RFC
6350 (2011), and notes how versions 3.0
(RFC 2426) and 2.1 (the 1996
Versit specification, read from the
copy
once at imc.org) differ; all read 2026-11-12. Lines, folding and escaping work much
as in iCalendar; a .vcf file
may hold many cards one after another. Properties can be grouped with a prefix, such
as item1.EMAIL.
Properties
| Property | Times | Value |
|---|---|---|
BEGIN, END | 1 | VCARD. |
VERSION | 1, required | 4.0, straight after BEGIN. |
SOURCE | any | URI where the card can be fetched. |
KIND | 0 or 1 | individual (default), group, org, location. |
XML | any | xCard elements with no vCard equivalent. |
FN | 1 or more, required | Formatted name to display. |
N | 0 or 1 | Structured name: family; given; additional; prefixes; suffixes (each part may be a comma list). |
NICKNAME | any | Text list. |
PHOTO, LOGO, SOUND | any | URI, often a data: URI. |
BDAY, ANNIVERSARY | 0 or 1 | Date, date-time or text; --0412 is 12 April with no year. |
GENDER | 0 or 1 | Sex: M, F, O other, N none, U unknown; then ; and free text for gender identity. |
ADR | any | Post office box; extended address; street; locality; region; postal code; country. Parameter LABEL holds the formatted address. |
TEL | any | URI (tel:+44…) or text. |
EMAIL | any | Text. |
IMPP | any | Instant messaging URI, such as xmpp:. |
LANG | any | Language tag spoken. |
TZ | any | Time zone name, UTC offset or URI. |
GEO | any | geo: URI. |
TITLE, ROLE | any | Job title and function. |
ORG | any | Organisation; units, separated by ;. |
MEMBER | any, groups only | URI of a member. |
RELATED | any | URI or text, with TYPE: contact, acquaintance, friend, met, co-worker, colleague, co-resident, neighbor, child, parent, sibling, spouse, kin, muse, crush, date, sweetheart, me, agent, emergency. |
CATEGORIES | any | Text list of tags. |
NOTE | any | Text. |
PRODID | 0 or 1 | The program that made the card. |
REV | 0 or 1 | Timestamp of the last change. |
UID | 0 or 1 | Unique identifier, often urn:uuid:. |
CLIENTPIDMAP | any | Maps a PID source number to a URI, for synchronisation. |
URL | any | Web page. |
KEY | any | Public key or certificate, as a URI or text. |
FBURL, CALADRURI, CALURI | any | Free/busy URL, where to send invitations, and the calendar’s URL. |
Later RFCs add BIRTHPLACE, DEATHPLACE,
DEATHDATE (RFC 6474) and EXPERTISE, HOBBY,
INTEREST, ORG-DIRECTORY (RFC 6715). Names starting
X- are private.
Parameters
| Parameter | Meaning |
|---|---|
TYPE | work, home; for TEL also text, voice, fax, cell, video, pager, textphone; for RELATED the list above. |
PREF | 1 (most preferred) to 100. |
VALUE | The value type: text, uri, date, time, date-time, date-and-or-time, timestamp, boolean, integer, float, utc-offset, language-tag. |
LANGUAGE | Language of the value. |
ALTID | Marks properties that are versions of the same value, such as a name in two scripts. |
PID | Identifies a property instance for synchronisation. |
MEDIATYPE | Media type of a URI’s target. |
CALSCALE | gregorian, for dates. |
SORT-AS | Sort keys for N and ORG. |
GEO, TZ | Location and time zone of an address. |
LABEL | Formatted address, on ADR. |
vCard 3.0 and 2.1
| Point | 3.0 (RFC 2426) | 2.1 (Versit) |
|---|---|---|
| Required | VERSION, N, FN | VERSION, N |
| Character set | Given by the MIME charset parameter; the CHARSET property parameter was removed (4.0 allows only UTF-8) | CHARSET= parameter on any property, default ASCII |
| Binary data | ENCODING=b (base64) | ENCODING=BASE64; also QUOTED-PRINTABLE and 8BIT (default 7-bit), with quoted-printable lines under 76 characters |
| Types | TYPE=work,voice, TYPE=pref for preference | Bare names: TEL;WORK;VOICE: |
RFC 6350’s list of removed features: the NAME, MAILER,
LABEL and CLASS properties, the CONTEXT and
CHARSET parameters, the intl, dom,
postal and parcel address types, and in-line vCards such
as the value of AGENT. The media type is text/vcard; RFC
6350 marks text/directory (used by 3.0) as deprecated, and the 2.1
specification uses the unregistered text/x-vCard.