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ONIX

Archived Previous Releases

ONIX for Books Release 2.1

Release history

Release 2.1 was first released in June 2003, and was designed to be fully backwards-compatible with Release 2.0. It was succeeded by Release 3.0 in 2009. Folowing proof-of-concept and early implementation of 3.1, from January 2012, all users are strongly recommended to migrate to the latest to Release 3.0. From January 2014, online support for the Release 2.1 DTD and XSD files was reduced and in January 2017 EDItEUR's support ended. Specifications and related documentation and files were moved to this online archive page. Upon the release of ONIX 3.1 in March 2023, ONIX 2.1 was formally made obsolete. As of April 2026, Specifications and support documents and files for ONIX 2.1 and earlier have been withdrawn and are no longer downloadable from this archive page, nor are they available from EDItEUR.

Release 2.1 was first published in June 2003. During its life, version 2.1 was subject to four minor updates. The most common revision for users in most countries was Release 2.1 revision 02, published in 2004, with some minor revisions to documentation in February 2005. To meet the specific needs of ONIX implementations in Australia and Spain, a further minor revision, 03, was published in January 2006, adding a small number of optional elements to Groups PR.24 and PR.26. All other users were recommended to continue to work with Release 2.1 revision 02 – or at least, to ignore these optional additions.

To meet additional specific needs of ONIX implementations in Japan that were identified by the Japan Publishing Organisation for Information Infrastructure Development (JPO), another minor revision – 2.1 rev.04 – was published in early 2011. This added a very small number of optional data elements and a new optional data attribute. This revision was not recommended for use outside Japan. Similar functionality to meet the needs of ONIX users in Japan and China was also added to ONIX 3.0.

ONIX 2.1 ‘sunset date’, legacy use and obsolescence – December 2014 to March 2023

At the beginning of 2012, the ONIX International Steering Committee – the group that guides the future development of the ONIX standard – announced that full support for ONIX version 2.1 would end at the end of 2014, and that all users were strongly advised to update their systems and migrate to ONIX 3.0. The three year notice period ensured that adequate time was available for planning, budgeting and development of updated systems.

Limited 'twilight' support for all codelists continued through 2015, and 'moonlight' support for a subset of codelists shared with ONIX 3.0 continued throuh 2016. The last version of the codelists that work with ONIX 2.1 was Issue 36, and 'midnight' for direct EDIteUR support for v2.1 was the beginning of January 2017.

Removal of direct support from EDItEUR does not mean that a particular version of ONIX 'stops working'. EDItEUR terms this period of continued use 'legacy', with the warning that continued long-term reliance on a legacy release must be viewed as a business risk, as data senders or recipients may cease support at any time.

An increasing number of data senders and recipients now ONLY support 3.0 and 3.1 (and their various revisions). Because of this, EDItEUR declared release 2.1 'obsolete' in March 2023 (at the time of release of ONIX 3.1). It is likely that because of the obsolescence of 2.1, further organisations currently able to receive both 2.1 and 3.0 / 3.1 will request ‘3.0 or 3.1 only’. Any organisation using ONIX 2.1 (and even a few using 2.0) should ensure that a plan for rapid migration to ONIX 3.0 / 3.1 is in place. Relying on ONIX 2.1 constitutes a serious and increasing business risk.

EDItEUR and BISG delivered a 2-hour detailed webinar on the migration from ONIX 2.1 to 3.0. Similar webinars and in-person presentations were given in cooperation with BIC, BookNet Canada and other EDItEUR members on several occasions throughout the extended twilight and moonlight support period from 2014 to 2017. The BISG webinar recording can be viewed here.

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ONIX for Books Release 2.0

Release 2.0 was published in July 2001, replacing the earlier Release 1.2.1. It was superseded by the initial revision of Release 2.1 in June 2003, and is now considered obsolete.

Specifications and support documents and files for ONIX 2.0 and earlier have been withdrawn and are no longer downloadable from this archive page, nor are they available from EDItEUR.

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Release 1.2 and earlier

The ONIX 1.0 ONIX guidelines was initially released by the Association of American Publishers in January 2000, and quickly followed by an International pilot release 1.0 from EDItEUR (March to May 2000), then by 1.1 (July 2000), 1.2 (November 2000) and 1.2.1 (April 2001). All these early versions are considered obsolete.

Specifications and support documents and files for ONIX 1.2.1 and earlier have been withdrawn and are no longer downloadable from this archive page, nor are they available from EDItEUR.

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