Source Files

As localization professionals, we appreciate it when our clients are considerate of what we need to better serve them. One of the ways that they can show this consideration is by providing source files for whatever they want translated.

What are source files? They are files that are saved locally to our drives that can be easily edited either in their native program or in the translation memory tool that we choose to use.

Some examples of non-source files:

• Images (GIF, JPEG, PNG...)
• PDF files
• Web site URLs (or YouTube URLs for videos)

Some examples of source files:

• Source image files (Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator)
• DTP source files (Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Quark)
• Source web files (HTML, PHP)

Non-source files are meant for viewing. There's nothing wrong with them, but they are not meant to be edited or localized. Source files are meant for editing and generating the non-source files. They are what we need in order to localize content in the most effective manner possible.