What Is a VCF File? (vCard Format Explained)

VCF stands for Virtual Contact File

A VCF file (extension .vcf) is a text file that stores contact information in a structured format called vCard. It can contain one contact or many thousands, all in a single file.

Every time you tap "Share Contact" on your iPhone, receive a business card via email, or export your address book from Gmail — you're working with VCF.

What does a VCF file look like?

VCF files are plain text. Each contact starts with BEGIN:VCARD and ends with END:VCARD. Here's a simple example:

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
FN:Maria Garcia
N:Garcia;Maria;;;
ORG:Startup Labs
TITLE:Product Manager
TEL;TYPE=CELL:+1-555-234-5678
EMAIL:maria.garcia@startuplabs.io
END:VCARD

Each line is a property. The property name (before the colon) identifies the field, and the value (after the colon) holds the data. Properties can also have type parameters — like TEL;TYPE=CELL to distinguish a cell phone from a work phone.

Common vCard fields

• FN — Formatted (display) name
• N — Structured name: Last;First;Middle;Prefix;Suffix
• TEL — Phone number (can appear multiple times)
• EMAIL — Email address (can appear multiple times)
• ORG — Organization / company
• TITLE — Job title
• ADR — Mailing address
• BDAY — Birthday
• URL — Website
• NOTE — Free-text notes
• PHOTO — Contact photo (base64-encoded)

vCard versions

There are four versions of the vCard standard:

• vCard 2.1 (1996) — Oldest, still common in older Android exports
• vCard 3.0 (2000) — Most widely supported; used by iOS, Gmail, Outlook
• vCard 4.0 (2011) — Supports richer data (multiple addresses, more field types)
• jCard — JSON representation of vCard 4.0 data (rarely seen)

In practice, vCard 3.0 is the safest choice for maximum compatibility.

What apps support VCF files?

Nearly every contact manager, email client, and phone supports VCF:

• iOS / iPhone — Tap to add, or use Settings → Contacts export
• Android — Contacts app → Import/Export
• Gmail / Google Contacts — contacts.google.com → Import/Export
• Outlook — File → Import/Export
• macOS Contacts — File → Import
• Thunderbird, Yahoo Mail, iCloud — all support VCF import

VCF vs CSV — what's the difference?

Both formats store contact data, but they serve different purposes:

• VCF is designed for direct import into phone/email address books. It's the format devices understand natively.
• CSV is designed for spreadsheets and databases. It's easier to bulk-edit in Excel or Google Sheets, and required by most CRM import tools.

Read our full VCF vs CSV comparison for more details.

How to open a VCF file

VCF files are plain text — you can open them in any text editor (Notepad, TextEdit, VS Code) to see the raw data. To actually use the contacts, open the file with your contact manager of choice, or use our converter to turn it into a CSV spreadsheet.