EDIdEv - Electronic Data Interchange Development

The Standard Exchange Format (SEF)

The Standard Exchange Format (SEF) is an open-standard, computer readable, text format that contains the implementation guideline of an EDI document.  The purpose of a SEF file is to convey an EDI implementation guideline in a standard, computer-parsable format so that it can be read directly by EDI applications.

The advantages of SEF over other file formats (e.g. pdf, doc, rft, html, and paper) are:

  • SEF files are immediately useable by both users and computers.
  • SEF files are small electronic files that can be transmitted easily over the Internet.
  • SEF files are editable either with a text editor or with our SEF Manager.
  • SEF is an open standard, which allows you to create and distribute your own SEF files without any permission or having to pay any royalty fees.

For documentation on how to create SEF files, download the following sef16.pdf file.

For creating an X12 SEF file from scratch with the SEF Manager, click here

For creating an UN/EDIFACT SEF file from scratch with the SEF Manager, click here



What is a SEF (Standard Exchange Format) file?

    Click here to evaluate the Framework EDI     


Below are SEF files for evaluation
(Please note: SEF files for evaluation are in a secured format which only works with the evaluation version of Framework EDI.)

X12 Standard


UN/EDIFACT Standard


Below are example SEF files in their actual format

Email: support@edidev.com           

PLEASE NOTE: SEF files are not included in any of the Framework EDI license.

For ASC/X12:  X12 standards and related information included for use with EDIdEv Software are protected by copyright and other intellectual property of X12 Incorporated, a non-profit organization chartered by the American National Standards Institute. In order to provide and fund these activities in serving American industry, as an X12 licensing partner, EDIdEv customers may receive a license to use the X12 standards for internal, rather than commercial use. For a list of X12 licensing categories, see https://x12.org/licensing. X12 requires you to obtain and maintain a license to use and access X12 metadata, represented in, for example, more than 30 versions of more than 300 transaction sets, implementation guides, and code sets through X12's online viewer. To obtain this license, please contact licensing@x12.org


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