Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Suitable for feeding directly into a computer: Describes data or text that is in a format that a computer can process and interpret directly without human intervention for conversion.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • The census data was converted into a machine-readable format for analysis.
  • A PDF is not inherently machine-readable; the text must be extracted and structured for software to process it.
  • Governments are increasingly publishing laws and regulations as machine-readable documents to improve transparency and accessibility.

Advanced Usage

• "Machine-readable data": Data encoded in a way that software applications can easily use (e.g., CSV, JSON, XML files).
  • Open data initiatives require public information to be released as machine-readable data.
• "Machine-readable zone (MRZ)": A specific area on passports and identity documents containing text encoded in a format readable by optical character recognition (OCR) scanners.
  • The border control officer scanned the machine-readable zone at the bottom of the passport.

Variants and Related Words

• Machine-readable medium (n): A physical object, like a magnetic tape or barcode, on which machine-readable data is stored.
  • The archive stores historical records on a machine-readable medium for long-term preservation.
• Human-readable (adj): Presented in a form that is easy for people to read and understand, often contrasted with machine-readable formats.
  • The configuration file has both a human-readable comment section and a machine-readable data section.

Synonyms

• Computer-processable: Capable of being processed by a computer.
• Digitally encoded: Converted into a digital format that machines can interpret.

Related Phrases

• To make something machine-readable: The process of converting information into a format suitable for computer input.
  • The library's project aims to make its entire catalog machine-readable.

Adjective

1. suitable for feeding directly into a computer