Open Document Graphics

OpenDocument Graphics (ODG) is an open, vendor-neutral vector drawing file format, standardized internationally as ISO/IEC 26300 (based on the OASIS OpenDocument Format, ODF). It's the drawing member of the OpenDocument family alongside Open Document Text, Open Document Spreadsheet, Open Document Presentation, Open Document Formula, and Open Document Database. Unlike the others, ODG has no single dominant proprietary counterpart — it overlaps loosely with Microsoft Visio's .vsdx (diagramming) and Adobe Illustrator's .ai (vector art), without matching either one-to-one.

Package structure

Like every OpenDocument format, .odg is a ZIP archive of XML sub-documents:

• mimetype — a plain-text file holding the string application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.graphics; it must be the first entry in the ZIP and stored uncompressed, so a reader can identify the format without inflating the whole archive.
• content.xml — the drawing's pages, shapes, and layers.
• styles.xml — graphic, presentation, and page styles shared across the drawing.
• meta.xml — metadata (author, creation/modification dates, editing statistics).
• settings.xml — application-specific state (current view, zoom, grid/snap settings).
• META-INF/manifest.xml — an index of every file in the package and its media type, plus encryption metadata if the file is password-protected.

Content model

Inside content.xml, an <office:drawing> root holds one or more <draw:page> elements — ODG documents are inherently multi-page and support layers (<draw:layer>), unlike a single-image format. Each page contains vector shapes: <draw:rect>, <draw:ellipse>, <draw:path> (arbitrary vector paths), and <draw:connector> (connector lines that stay attached to the shapes they link — the building block for flowcharts and diagrams), plus text boxes and grouped objects (<draw:g>).

Template variant

.otg (OpenDocument Graphics Template, application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.graphics-template) is the same package structure flagged as a template — opening one starts a new, unsaved drawing pre-loaded with its styles and layout rather than editing the template file itself.

Software compatibility

| Category | Software | | --- | --- | | Native/open-source | LibreOffice Draw (its default format), Apache OpenOffice Draw | | Cloud-based | None with full native support — Google Workspace has no direct drawing-app equivalent for .odg the way Slides/Docs/Sheets cover .odp/.odt/.ods | | Commercial | No mainstream commercial app opens .odg natively the way PowerPoint/Word/Excel open their ODF counterparts; interoperability with Visio or Illustrator goes through export/import conversion, not direct format support |

ODG vs. SVG

Both are XML-based vector formats, but they solve different problems: SVG describes a single image (one canvas, no built-in concept of "pages"), while ODG is a full document package — multiple pages, layers, embedded metadata, and a styles/content separation — closer in spirit to a drawing application's native file than to an image-interchange format. Exporting an ODG page to SVG collapses that document structure down to one flat image.

Common pitfalls

• Treating ODG as a single-image format — assuming one page/one canvas, when ODG documents routinely hold multiple pages and layers that a naive conversion (e.g. to SVG or PNG) will flatten or drop.
• Expecting Visio-level diagram fidelity — .vsdx diagrams (especially ones with Visio-specific shape data, stencils, or data-linked shapes) don't have a lossless path through .odg; expect visual-only fidelity, not a full semantic round-trip.
• No cloud-native equivalent — unlike the odt/ods/odp trio, there's no direct browser-based tool most teams already have that opens .odg natively, which can strand a drawing when only Google Workspace or web-only tools are available.

Learn more

• ISO/IEC 26300 — the international standard defining OpenDocument Format.
• OASIS OpenDocument Format — the underlying OASIS specification ODG implements.
• Open Document Text, Open Document Spreadsheet, Open Document Presentation, Open Document Formula, Open Document Database for the other members of the OpenDocument family.