Translate Wordfast TXLF files online. Tags intact. Status preserved.
Drop your .txlf exported from Wordfast Pro and get it back ready to open in Wordfast — translated, with inline tags preserved and 100/exact matches passed through untouched.
What is Wordfast TXLF?
TXLF (Translation Exchange Language File) is the bilingual format of Wordfast Pro, the desktop and web CAT tool from Wordfast LLC. It's XLIFF-based but with Wordfast-specific conventions for inline tags, segment status, and TM metadata. Wordfast Pro is widely used by freelance translators (Wordfast Anywhere is free) and by LSPs working with clients who prefer Wordfast over Trados or memoQ.
Why Wordfast TXLF is tricky for AI translation
- Inline-tag notation: Wordfast uses <ut> and <ph> tags with Wordfast-specific attributes. Generic XLIFF parsers either flatten them or mishandle the IDs.
- Segment status: TXLF carries Wordfast's status machine: Empty, Pretranslated, Translated, Reviewed, Final. Resetting status on round-trip confuses the reviewer's filter views.
- TM match metadata: 100% and "context" exact matches from Wordfast TM should not be re-translated.
- TXML legacy: older Wordfast Pro versions used .txml instead of .txlf — the two are similar but not identical. Tools that don't distinguish produce broken output.
- Wordfast Anywhere format: the cloud version sometimes exports slightly different XLIFF — auto-detect needed.
How Fily handles Wordfast TXLF
- Wordfast tag codec: <ut> and <ph> extracted with full attribute sets, segments translated as text with placeholders, tags reinserted in correct positions.
- Status preservation: status attribute carried through unchanged for untouched segments. Translated segments marked Translated.
- TM match pass-through: segments marked as 100% / context match are not re-translated.
- Format detection: .txml (legacy) vs .txlf (current) auto-detected and routed to the correct parser.
- 12-step QA: glossary, forbidden, tag count repair, no-source-bleed, consistency.
Pipeline: wordfast_txlf@1.0.0
The Wordfast TXLF workflow with Fily
Upload
Drop your .txlf (single or batch ZIP). Optional: glossary, TM, style guide.
Process
Fily runs the Wordfast TXLF pipeline + 12 QA steps. Typical job: 10–20 minutes.
Download
Same format, ready to deliver. QA report HTML attached.
Translators who work both in Wordfast and outside it use Fily for first-pass translation of inbound batches. The pre-translated TXLF opens in Wordfast as if a colleague had done the first pass — segments are filled, tags intact, TM matches preserved.
Beyond the standard pipeline
What we've built around Wordfast TXLF
Edge cases clients brought us for this format — and the pipelines we shipped to solve them.
Golden TM · auto-build
A translation memory that builds itself
Clients wanted TM leverage but didn't want to maintain a TM — exporting, cleaning and re-importing TMX after every project is a job nobody has time for.
Every confirmed segment is promoted into the organization's Golden TM automatically, scoped per client and language pair, and reused on every future job. Reviewer edits in the dashboard feed straight back in. Exact matches then cost $0.
GS-TXLF count parity
Word counts that match your CAT tool exactly
An LSP reconciled Fily's word count against their Trados/GroupShare analysis and the numbers didn't line up — pre-translated and locked segments were being counted differently, breaking the billing conversation.
The count is read from the CAT file's own analysis: match categories are frozen from the file, 100%/101%/ICE/locked come through free, and internal repetitions are detected the way the CAT tool sees them. Analyses now reconcile to the segment.
Frequently asked about Wordfast TXLF
Other formats Fily translates
Ready to translate a Wordfast TXLF file?
No card. No setup. Upload one file and see the output.