What is an XBRL file? Document written in eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL), an XML -based language; contains business and financial data, such as balance sheets, ledgers, and financial statements; used for communicating and exchanging business performance reports; commonly uses the .XML extension but occasionally appears with the XBRL extension.

More Information The XBRL document is written in XML format but uses XBRL elements, such as tags that describe each item of business data for quicker report sorting and analysis. An easy-to-spot differentiation between XBRL and XML files is that the XBRL file has the element tag <xbrl> in its root. NOTE: In 2011, all public companies were mandated by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to report earnings in the XBRL format.