What is a vCard?
Updated October 22, 2026
It's a virtual business card...
...but more precisely, a vCard is a standard file format for electronic business cards. vCards are often attached to email messages, but they can be shared in other ways too: from a web page, by text message or through a QR code. They usually hold a name and address, organization details, phone numbers, email addresses, website URLs and a photo.
vCard history
The Versitcard was proposed in 1995 by the Versit Consortium (Apple, AT&T, IBM and Siemens). In December 1996 the format passed to the Internet Mail Consortium.
Version 2.1 is supported by almost every address book. Version 3.0 is defined in RFC 2425 and RFC 2426, and version 4.0 in RFC 6350, with an XML form, xCard, in RFC 6351. vCard files use the .vcf extension.
vCard Hosting builds version 3.0 cards, the version that works most widely across phones, Outlook and Google Contacts.