What is an .xbri file, and how do you open one?
It is a report package, not a new document format. Here is what is inside one, why regulators ask for it, and how to read one without installing anything.
Short answer
An .xbri file is an XBRL report package holding an Inline XBRL report. It is a ZIP archive with a fixed internal layout: a META-INF folder carrying reportPackage.json, which declares the package type, and a reports folder holding exactly one report. The sibling extension .xbr carries a non-inline XBRL instance instead.
What is inside the package
The layout is prescribed by XBRL International's Report Packages specification, so any conforming tool can open a package without configuration.
- META-INF/reportPackage.json declares the package type. For an Inline XBRL package that is https://xbrl.org/report-package/2023/xbri, and for a non-inline package https://xbrl.org/report-package/2023/xbr.
- The reports folder holds exactly one report. Two reports in one archive is a packaging error, not a larger filing.
- Alongside them sit the taxonomy files the report needs, including a filer-authored extension taxonomy where there is one.
Why the package exists
A loose xHTML file leaves the reader hunting for the taxonomy it points at. The package binds report and taxonomy together, so what the preparer meant is what the receiver sees.
The Dutch filing rulebook follows the European ESEF model here: its report-packages chapter permits a filer-authored extension taxonomy with anchoring, alongside the fixed-framework XBRL filings it is gradually replacing.
How to open one
Our iXBRL Reader opens .xbri, .xbr and .zip in the browser. Free, no account, and the package is broken out beside the rendered report so you can see, per amount, which concept, context and unit hang off it.
It is also the quickest way to review somebody else's package: you read the report as it was meant to look and check what was actually tagged at the same time.
How to check one before filing
Opening is not approving. A package can be neatly wrapped and still bounce on the receiver's rule set. Run it through a validator that covers the XBRL specifications, the calculation relationships from the taxonomy and the filing rules of your regime.
Only errors block; warnings inform. That distinction saves time, because it tells you which findings have to be resolved before filing.
The extensions you will meet
Four file shapes, and where each one turns up in practice.
| Extension | What it holds | Where you meet it |
|---|---|---|
| .xbri | A report package whose report is Inline XBRL, so xHTML with the facts embedded | Dutch SBR filings and ESEF annual financial reports |
| .xbr | A report package whose report is a non-inline XBRL instance | Regimes that still accept a separate instance document |
| .zip | An archive that may be a report package or a taxonomy package | Both; the package metadata decides which |
| .xhtml | The inline report on its own, outside a package | An intermediate artifact, usually not what you file |
The extension is a hint, not proof. A receiving system reads the package type from META-INF/reportPackage.json, not from the file name.
Questions that come with this
Is .xbri a vendor format?
No. It comes from XBRL International's Report Packages specification, the standards body behind XBRL itself. Any conforming tool can read a package.
Can I just rename it to .zip?
You can unpack it, because it is a ZIP. But renaming changes nothing about the contents, and a receiving system looks at the package type in the metadata, not at the extension.
Do I need an account to read one?
No. The iXBRL Reader is free and runs in the browser, with no account and no installation.
My file is a loose xHTML document. Can I open that?
Yes. A reader can wrap a loose document into a minimal package in order to display it. What you file is still the package, not the loose document.
Does .xbri mean the report is valid?
No. Packaging and validity are two things. A correctly packaged report can still fail the filing rules or the calculation relationships.
Which Dutch filing uses this?
The trade-register filing through SBR. For the large size class, financial year 2025 is the first year that goes electronically.
Want to produce packages yourself?
Show us the report you need to deliver and we will walk the route from source to package.