This is a guide to bibliographic data formats that Zotero can work with. Most of these formats can be imported directly by Zotero, and some can be exported as well. Others are used only in conjunction with site translators and cannot be imported or exported directly.

For information on getting records into your library by using these import formats, you should probably consult the main documentation.

For troubleshooting import and export issues, you can consult the information below, but first try the relevant steps in the translator troubleshooting procedure and direct questions to the support forums.

The format descriptions here are very cursory– see the linked documentation and specifications for more details.

There is also a very outdated description of the mappings between Zotero fields and the fields in some of these formats.

Export

Import and export

Import and export

Import (only when called by other translators)

Import UNIMARC, MARC21

Import and export

• Introduction to MODS version 3 – an introduction to the format, written by the Chris Putman, author of Bibutils.

Import and export. As COinS, as CTX. Implemented not as a translator.

Import

Import and export

Import and export

Complex!

• Bibutils is a utility that can convert several of the formats above into and out of MODS XML, which serves as a very expressive intermediate format. This will often be more faithful than importing into Zotero and exporting in another format.