VCF Format Complete Guide: Understanding vCard for Business Cards
vCard (VCF) is the universal standard for digital contact exchange. Understanding it helps you create better digital business cards and troubleshoot compatibility issues.
What is vCard (VCF)?
Definition
vCard (Virtual Contact File) is an electronic business card format standardized by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The file extension is .vcf.
Purpose:
Exchange contact information between applications and devices
Store comprehensive profile data
Universal compatibility across platforms
Human-readable text format
Brief History
1995: vCard 2.1 released
1998: vCard 3.0 introduces significant improvements
2011: vCard 4.0 adds modern features
Today: Mix of 3.0 and 4.0 in use (3.0 has widest compatibility)
vCard Structure and Anatomy
Basic vCard Example
BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
FN:John Smith
N:Smith;John;Michael;Mr.;Jr.
ORG:Acme Corporation
TITLE:Chief Executive Officer
TEL;TYPE=WORK,VOICE:+1-555-123-4567
TEL;TYPE=CELL:+1-555-987-6543
EMAIL;TYPE=WORK:[email protected]
URL:https://acme.com
ADR;TYPE=WORK:;;123 Main St;New York;NY;10001;USA
NOTE:Met at Tech Conference 2025
END:VCARD
Line-by-Line Breakdown
BEGIN:VCARD - Marks start of vCard data
VERSION:3.0 - Specifies vCard version (3.0 most compatible)
FN - Formatted Name (full name as displayed)
N - Name components (Last;First;Middle;Prefix;Suffix)
ORG - Organization/Company name
TITLE - Job title or position
TEL - Telephone number with type parameter
EMAIL - Email address with type parameter
URL - Website address
ADR - Physical address (structured format)
NOTE - Additional notes or context
END:VCARD - Marks end of vCard data
vCard Versions Compared
vCard 2.1 (Legacy)
Characteristics:
Oldest, widest compatibility
Limited features
ASCII encoding only
Still supported by all major platforms
Use When:
Maximum compatibility needed
Supporting very old devices
Minimal information required
vCard 3.0 (Standard)
Characteristics:
Current de facto standard
UTF-8 support (international characters)
Photo embedding
Better structured data
Best balance of features and compatibility
Use When:
Standard business card usage
Need international character support
Want to include photos
Targeting modern devices
vCard 4.0 (Modern)
Characteristics:
Latest official standard
Enhanced metadata
Better extensibility
Social network links
Gender and relationship fields
Limitations:
Not universally supported yet
iOS has limited support
Some older apps can't parse it
Use When:
Cutting-edge applications only
Both parties have modern systems
Need advanced features
Compatibility Recommendation
Use vCard 3.0 for digital business cards. It offers:
Near-universal compatibility
All essential features
Photo support
International characters
Reliable parsing
Essential vCard Fields
Name Fields
FN (Formatted Name) - REQUIRED
FN:John Michael Smith
How the name should be displayed. This is the only truly required field.
BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
CHARSET:UTF-8
FN:José García
N:García;José;;;
Escape Special Characters:
Comma: ,
Semicolon: ;
Newline: \n
Backslash: \
Example:
NOTE:Works in Sales\, Marketing\, and Operations
Line Folding
Rule: Lines longer than 75 characters should be folded.
How to Fold:
Add a CRLF followed by a space or tab.
Example:
NOTE:This is a very long note that needs to be folded into multiple lines
for proper vCard formatting and to comply with the 75 character limit th
at is recommended in the specification.
X-COMPANY-ID:EMP-12345
X-LINKEDIN:https://linkedin.com/in/johnsmith
X-CUSTOM-FIELD:Custom Value
Guidelines:
Prefix with X- or vendor name
Use descriptive names
Don't rely on them for critical data
Test compatibility
Multiple vCards in One File
Format:
BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
FN:John Smith
END:VCARD
BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
FN:Jane Doe
END:VCARD
Use Cases:
Exporting contact list
Team contact sheets
Event attendee lists
vCard as QR Code
Process:
Generate vCard text
Encode as QR code
Display for scanning
Recipient's phone parses and imports
Limitations:
QR code size limits data amount
Usually excludes photos
Basic information only
Works for most essential fields
Testing and Validation
Online Validators
Tools:
vCard Validator by iCloud
VCF-Parser online tools
Contact format checkers
What They Check:
Syntax errors
Required fields
Version compliance
Encoding issues
Manual Testing
Test Import On:
iPhone (iOS Contacts)
Android (Google Contacts)
Gmail web interface
Microsoft Outlook
macOS Contacts
Verify:
All fields import correctly
Photos display properly
Links are clickable
Special characters render correctly
Multiple phone numbers/emails appear
Tools and Libraries
Creating vCards
Libraries:
vobject (Python)
vcard (JavaScript/Node)
vcardtools (PHP)
Built-in functions in most languages
Online Generators:
QR Code generators with vCard support
Business card platforms
Contact management tools
Parsing vCards
Libraries:
ical (JavaScript)
vobject (Python)
Native platform APIs
Regular expressions (for simple cases)
The Future of vCard
Emerging Trends:
Enhanced verification for professional profiles
Dynamic vCards (live updates)
Enhanced privacy controls
Richer media support
Better social network integration
vCard 5.0 (Proposed):
Improved internationalization
Better security
Enhanced extensibility
Modern data types
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Understanding vCard format helps troubleshoot issues, but you don't need to create them manually.
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VCF Format Complete Guide: Understanding vCard for Business Cards
