Format [format]

Illustration demonstrating the various formats of a musical album. The formats in the image are vinyl, mp3, and CD.

The format [format] attribute defines the media format of a product and is used to help distinguish between versions of books, music, movies, software and video games that are published or distributed in different formats or versions. Some examples of how to use the format attribute include:

A video game that comes in PlayStation 5 and Xbox One formats
A book that comes in paperback and hardcover editions
A musical album that comes in CD and vinyl formats
A movie that comes in DVD and Blu-Ray formats

Format values can be difficult to represent across different types of media products. It is not required to provide these exact values, but it may be helpful for you to standardize the format values of your media products.

Books: Paperback, Hardcover
Music: CD, HDCD, Vinyl
Movies: DVD, Blu-Ray
Software: Windows, Mac OS, Linux
Video games: PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo Wii U, Nintendo 3ds, etc.

When to use

Required for all products in a product group that vary by format. Recommended for all products for which format is an important, distinguishing attribute.

Format

Follow these formatting guidelines to make sure Google understands the data you're submitting.

For details on when and how to submit values in English, learn more about submitting your product data.

Type	String (Unicode characters. Recommended: ASCII only)
Limits	Up to 1000 characters
Repeated field	No

File format	Example value
Text (TSV)	`Blu-ray`
XML (Feeds)	`<g:format>Blu-ray</g:format>`

Guidelines

Follow these guidelines to make sure you submit high-quality data for your products.

Minimum requirements

These are the requirements you'll need to meet to show your product on Google. If you don't follow these requirements, we'll disapprove your product and let you know in the Diagnostics page of your Manufacturer Center account.

There are no minimum requirements for this attribute. Keep in mind that you still need to follow the formatting guidelines or the information you submit can't be used.

Examples

Books

Product data for a hardcover book
Attribute	Value
Format `[format]`	Hardcover

Video game variants

If your product comes in different formats, submit the format for each variant.

Product data for a Sony PlayStation 4
Attribute	Value
Format `[format]`	PlayStation 4
Item group ID `[item_group_id]`	vg123ps4