Technical Standards

A standard is an agreed, documented specification that defines how something should be made, measured, described or exchanged. Standards let products and systems from different makers work together, ensure that data and communications are understood the same way everywhere, and set common levels of safety and quality. Without them, equipment, file formats and networks built by separate organizations would rarely connect, and results would be hard to compare.

Standards are developed and published by standards organizations. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) issue many international standards, including widely used families such as the ISO 9000 series for quality management. National and regional bodies include ANSI in the United States and DIN in Germany. In telecommunications and broadcasting, organizations such as the ITU (whose work was formerly carried out under the name CCITT), ETSI and the EBU define how signals and networks operate, while the W3C develops the open standards behind the web.

Some standards describe physical and electrical matters, such as connectors, display interfaces or graphic symbols for diagrams. Others define data and document formats — for example the JPEG specification for compressed images, or the protocols that move pages across the internet. Standards may be voluntary or, when adopted into regulation, legally required. Because technology changes, standards are reviewed and revised over time, and each published standard carries a reference number and edition so that users can cite the exact version they are following.

Frequently asked questions

Why are technical standards important?

They let products, data and communications from different makers work together and set common levels of quality and safety, so systems can interconnect reliably.

What does ISO do?

The International Organization for Standardization develops and publishes voluntary international standards across many fields, such as the ISO 9000 series for quality management.

Are all standards mandatory?

No. Many are voluntary, but a standard becomes legally required when laws or regulations adopt it, or when a contract specifies compliance.