What is the Factur-X format?

In practice, in France

Factur-X is one of three structured formats accepted under the French reform, alongside UBL and CII. It is the most widely used among SMEs, because it is the only one of the three that a recipient can open and read without special tooling: the PDF stays a PDF.

That is its real strength: while not everyone is equipped yet, a single file serves both the machine and the human reader. It is a Franco-German format, identical to the German ZUGFeRD standard — the two names describe the same specification.

In Odoo

Odoo produces Factur-X natively under the French localisation, and can read it on receipt. The format is chosen per customer in the invoicing settings.

The point to watch is not the format but what goes into it: a valid XML file with incorrect mentions is still a non-compliant invoice. The check bears on the content, not the envelope.

Common mistakes

• Assuming an ordinary well-formatted PDF becomes Factur-X: without an embedded XML file, it is not a structured format.
• Confusing it with the transmission channel: Factur-X describes how an invoice is written, not how it travels.
• Opening the PDF, finding it correct, and never checking the XML — yet that is what the tax authorities actually read.