MAN vs OPML
A detailed comparison of Unix Man Page and OPML Outline — file size, quality, compatibility, and which format to choose for your workflow.
Unix Man Page
Documents & TextMan (manual) pages are the standard documentation format for Unix and Linux command-line tools, written in troff/groff markup. They follow a structured layout with NAME, SYNOPSIS, DESCRIPTION, and OPTIONS sections for consistent reference.
About MAN filesOPML Outline
Documents & TextOPML (Outline Processor Markup Language) is an XML format for structured outlines and lists. It is most widely used for exchanging RSS feed subscription lists between podcast apps and feed readers, and for hierarchical note-taking.
About OPML filesStrengths Comparison
MAN Strengths
- Universal Unix-like OS documentation since 1971.
- Plain text with simple troff markup — tiny files.
- Section system cleanly separates commands from APIs from config files.
- Renders to terminal, PostScript, HTML, or PDF.
- Every Unix programmer knows the format.
OPML Strengths
- Standard RSS subscription interchange format.
- Simple XML — easy to parse and generate.
- Highly extensible via arbitrary attributes.
- Supported by every major outline and RSS tool.
Limitations
MAN Limitations
- Terse by design — bad for tutorials or beginner-friendly intros.
- Troff syntax is arcane and difficult for modern authors.
- No interactive examples or live-editable snippets.
- Mostly replaced by web docs, cheat sheets, and --help output for modern tools.
OPML Limitations
- XML verbosity — larger than a JSON-based equivalent.
- Specification is loose — different tools disagree on edge cases.
- Primary use (RSS reading) has shrunk dramatically since Google Reader.
- No strong central stewardship.
Technical Specifications
| Specification | MAN | OPML |
|---|---|---|
| MIME type | text/troff | text/x-opml |
| Extensions | .man, .1, .2, .3, .4, .5, .6, .7, .8 | — |
| Markup | troff / groff with mdoc or man macro package | — |
| Renderer | groff + less (terminal), groff → PostScript/PDF/HTML | — |
| First shipped | Unix First Edition (1971) | — |
| Extension | — | .opml |
| Format | — | XML with nested <outline> elements |
| Standard | — | OPML 2.0 (2006) |
| Primary use | — | RSS subscription interchange |
Typical File Sizes
MAN
- Single command man page 2-15 KB
- Complex tool (e.g., bash man) 80-200 KB
OPML
- Typical RSS reader export (50 feeds) 5-30 KB
- Deep outline (Scrivener novel plan) 20-200 KB
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Frequently Asked Questions
MAN (Unix Man Page) is a document format used to store paginated text, with optional formatting, tables, images, hyperlinks, headers and footers. It sits in the documents & text family and is typically associated with a specific office suite or publishing pipeline that defined the format and ships the canonical reader.
OPML (OPML Outline) is a document format used to store paginated text, with optional formatting, tables, images, hyperlinks, headers and footers. It sits in the documents & text family and is typically associated with a specific office suite or publishing pipeline that defined the format and ships the canonical reader.
Modern office suites — Microsoft Word, Google Docs, LibreOffice Writer, Apple Pages — open most MAN files with reasonable fidelity. If your installed software does not support MAN, convert to DOCX or PDF first using KaijuConverter; both open in virtually every reader, including free online viewers.
Modern office suites — Microsoft Word, Google Docs, LibreOffice Writer, Apple Pages — open most OPML files with reasonable fidelity. If your installed software does not support OPML, convert to DOCX or PDF first using KaijuConverter; both open in virtually every reader, including free online viewers.
Upload the MAN to KaijuConverter and pick DOCX, PDF, ODT, RTF, HTML, Markdown, or plain text. Our pipeline runs LibreOffice headlessly plus pandoc for text formats — the same engines behind professional document pipelines. Styles, tables, images, and hyperlinks survive the conversion intact.
Yes, to a high degree. Standard fonts, headings, lists, tables, images, hyperlinks and page structure transfer cleanly. Custom fonts substitute to the closest match if not embedded; obscure layout features unique to MAN (frames, legacy macros) may flatten to static content in the target format.