EPUB Annotations Vocabulary 1.0 W3C Group Note Draft 25 April 2026 More details about this document This version: https://www.w3.org/TR/2026/DNOTE-epub-anno-vocab-10-20260425/ Latest published version: https://www.w3.org/TR/epub-anno-vocab-10/ Latest editor's draft: https://w3c.github.io/epub-specs/epub34/annotations-vocab/ History: https://www.w3.org/standards/history/epub-anno-vocab-10/ Commit history Editors: Ivan Herman ( W3C ) Laurent Le Meur ( EDRLab ) Feedback: GitHub w3c/epub-specs ( pull requests , new issue , open issues ) [email protected] with subject line [epub-anno-vocab-10] … message topic … ( archives ) Copyright © 2026 World Wide Web Consortium . W3C ® liability , trademark and permissive document license rules apply. Abstract This document defines the RDFS [ rdf-schema ] vocabulary for the EPUB Annotations 1.0 specification. RDF versions of the vocabulary, in Turtle [ turtle ] and JSON-LD [ json-ld11 ], as well as a JSON-LD @context , are also available. Status of This Document This section describes the status of this document at the time of its publication. A list of current W3C publications and the latest revision of this technical report can be found in the W3C standards and drafts index . This document defines the EPUB Annotations Vocabulary 1.0 , an RDFS [ rdf-schema ] vocabulary formalizing the terms defined in the EPUB Annotations 1.0 specification. The vocabulary is a "profile" of the W3C Web Annotation Vocabulary . This document was published by the Publishing Maintenance Working Group as a Group Note Draft using the Note track . Group Note Drafts are not endorsed by W3C nor its Members. This is a draft document and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to cite this document as other than a work in progress. The W3C Patent Policy does not carry any licensing requirements or commitments on this document. This document is governed by the 18 August 2025 W3C Process Document . Table of Contents Abstract Status of This Document 1. Introduction 2. Namespaces 3. Term definitions 3.1 Class definitions 3.1.1 About 3.1.2 Annotation 3.1.3 AnnotationSet 3.1.4 Audio 3.1.5 Body 3.1.6 Creator 3.1.7 FragmentSelector 3.1.8 Generator 3.1.9 Meta 3.1.10 Selector 3.1.11 Target 3.2 Property definitions 3.2.1 about 3.2.2 body 3.2.3 color 3.2.4 conformsTo 3.2.5 creator 3.2.6 generator 3.2.7 highlight 3.2.8 homepage 3.2.9 items 3.2.10 meta 3.2.11 motivation 3.2.12 name 3.2.13 refinedBy 3.2.14 selector 3.2.15 source 3.2.16 tags 3.2.17 target 3.3 Definitions for individuals 3.3.1 pink 3.3.2 orange 3.3.3 yellow 3.3.4 green 3.3.5 blue 3.3.6 purple 3.3.7 solid 3.3.8 underline 3.3.9 strikethrough 3.3.10 outline A. References A.1 Informative references 1. Introduction This document defines the EPUB Annotations Vocabulary 1.0, an RDFS [ rdf-schema ] vocabulary formalizing the terms defined in the EPUB Annotations 1.0 specification. The vocabulary is a "profile" of the W3C Web Annotation Vocabulary . Publishing this vocabulary as a Working Group Note ensures the stability of the vocabulary and of the related JSON-LD @context file. This stability is important for implementers of [ epub-anno-10 ] who want to rely on the Linked Data aspects of the underlying Data Model. 2. Namespaces This specification makes use of the following namespaces: ea http://www.w3.org/ns/ea# oa http://www.w3.org/ns/oa# as http://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams# foaf http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/ dctypes http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/ dc http://purl.org/dc/terms/ dcterms http://purl.org/dc/terms/ owl http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl# rdf http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns# rdfs http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema# xsd http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema# 3. Term definitions 3.1 Class definitions The following are class definitions in the ea namespace. 3.1.1 About Information about the EPUB publication See the formal definition of the term . Dublin Core terms are used with this class, retaining the prefixes (to be in line with the EPUB Package Document). Range of: about Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.1.2 Annotation EPUB Annotation Object See the formal definition of the term . A subclass of the Web Annotation object with some restrictions with regards of various properties. Subclass of: oa:Annotation Range of: items Domain of: body , motivation , target Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.1.3 AnnotationSet Set of annotations See the formal definition of the term . An unordered collection of annotations, used as an interchange format amont EPUB Reading Systems. Domain of: about , generator , items Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.1.4 Audio Class for audio resources This class is an "alias" of the Sound class, using a terminology more widely used in practice. Subclass of: dctypes:Sound Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.1.5 Body Body of an EPUB Annotation See the formal definition of the term . In EPUB, annotations are restricted textual content, image, audio, or video. Subclass of: oa:TextualBody ⊔ oa:Image ⊔ Audio ⊔ oa:Video Range of: body Domain of: color , highlight , tags Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.1.6 Creator Creator of an EPUB Annotation See the formal definition of the term . JSON-LD serializations should use the terms Person , Organization , or Software for typing, as these are the only available creator types. Subclass of: foaf:Person ⊔ foaf:Organization ⊔ as:Application Range of: creator In the domain of: name Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.1.7 FragmentSelector Fragment Selector in EPUB See the formal definition of the term . This is restricted version of the Web Annotation Fragment Selector , reducing the list of valid media types. Subclass of: oa:FragmentSelector Domain of: conformsTo Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.1.8 Generator Generator See the formal definition of the term . Information about the tool generating the annotations. Range of: generator Domain of: homepage In the domain of: name Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.1.9 Meta Meta See the formal definition of the term . this class is currently undefined... Range of: meta Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.1.10 Selector EPUB Annotation selector See the formal definition of the term . A restrictive subset of selectors, usable in EPUB. Subclass of: FragmentSelector ⊔ oa:CssSelector ⊔ oa:TextPositionSelector Range of: refinedBy , selector Domain of: refinedBy Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.1.11 Target Target of an EPUB Annotation. See the formal definition of the term . Range of: target Domain of: meta , selector , source Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.2 Property definitions The following are property definitions in the ea namespace. 3.2.1 about Information on the EPUB publication See the formal definition of the term . Provide information on the EPUB publication associated with an Annotation Set. Domain: AnnotationSet Range: About Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.2.2 body Designates the body of an annotation See the formal definition of the term . The range of body types is restricted for EPUB. Subproperty of: oa:hasBody Domain: Annotation Range: Body Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.2.3 color Highlight color See the formal definition of the term . Domain: Body Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.2.4 conformsTo Designates the fragment format See the formal definition of the term . The range of possible media formats in Fragment Selectors is restricted, see the range of this property. Subproperty of: dcterms:conformsTo Domain: FragmentSelector Range: dcterms:Standard Value may be one of: https://tools.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3236.html , http://www.w3.org/TR/media-frags/ , https://www.w3.org/TR/SVG/ , https://wicg.github.io/scroll-to-text-fragment/ Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.2.5 creator Information on the creator of an annotation See the formal definition of the term . The range of Creator types is restricted in EPUB. Subproperty of: dcterms:creator Range: Creator Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.2.6 generator Information on the tool generating the annotations See the formal definition of the term . Subproperty of: as:generator Domain: AnnotationSet Range: Generator Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.2.7 highlight Highlight mode See the formal definition of the term . Domain: Body Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.2.8 homepage Homepage of the tool generating the annotations See the formal definition of the term . The property's value should be a URL, i.e., not a literal. Subproperty of: foaf:homepage Domain: Generator Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.2.9 items Items in a set of annotations See the formal definition of the term . Domain: AnnotationSet Range: Annotation In a JSON-LD representation, values to this property are supposed to be represented in the form of a JSON array, even if there is just a single value. Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.2.10 meta Meta See the formal definition of the term . To be defined… Domain: Target Range: Meta Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.2.11 motivation Provides the motivation for an annotation See the formal definition of the term . The set of motivation types is restricted in EPUB, see the range definition. In the JSON-LD serialization those terms should be used without prefix. Subproperty of: oa:motivatedBy Domain: Annotation Range: oa:Motivation Value may be one of: oa:bookmarking , oa:commenting , oa:highlighting Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.2.12 name Name See the formal definition of the term . This property is available on some classes, see domain definition. The property's value is expected to be a natural language string. Subproperty of: foaf:name Domain: Creator ⊔ Generator Range: rdf:langString ⊔ xsd:string ⊔ rdf:dirLangString Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.2.13 refinedBy Selector refinement See the formal definition of the term . This property restricts the usage of the general oa:refinedBy property to the list of Selector types available in EPUB. Subproperty of: oa:refinedBy Domain: Selector Range: Selector Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.2.14 selector Designates the selector(s) for a target See the formal definition of the term . This property restricts the possible Selector types in EPUB. Subproperty of: oa:hasSelector Domain: Target Range: Selector Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.2.15 source Designates the source resource for the target See the formal definition of the term . The property's value should be a URL, i.e., not a literal. Subproperty of: oa:hasSource Domain: Target Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.2.16 tags Tags See the formal definition of the term . Domain: Body Range: xsd:string In a JSON-LD representation, values to this property are supposed to be represented in the form of a JSON array, even if there is just a single value. Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.2.17 target Designates the target resource for the EPUB annotation See the formal definition of the term . Subproperty of: oa:hasTarget Domain: Annotation Range: Target Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.3 Definitions for individuals The following are definitions for individuals in the ea namespace. 3.3.1 pink Pink selection color See the formal definition of the term . Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.3.2 orange Orange selection color See the formal definition of the term . Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.3.3 yellow Yellow selection color See the formal definition of the term . Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.3.4 green Green selection color See the formal definition of the term . Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.3.5 blue Blue selection color See the formal definition of the term . Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.3.6 purple Purple selection color See the formal definition of the term . Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.3.7 solid Solid selection highlight See the formal definition of the term . Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.3.8 underline Underline selection highlight See the formal definition of the term . Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.3.9 strikethrough Strikethrough selection highlight See the formal definition of the term . Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld 3.3.10 outline Outline selection highlight See the formal definition of the term . Relevant @context : https://www.w3.org/ns/epub-anno.jsonld A. References A.1 Informative references [annotation-vocab] Web Annotation Vocabulary . Robert Sanderson; Paolo Ciccarese; Benjamin Young. W3C. 23 February 2017. W3C Recommendation. URL: https://www.w3.org/TR/annotation-vocab/ [epub-anno-10] EPUB Annotations 1.0 . Laurent Le Meur; Ivan Herman. W3C. 22 April 2026. W3C Working Draft. URL: https://www.w3.org/TR/epub-anno-10/ [json-ld11] JSON-LD 1.1 . Gregg Kellogg; Pierre-Antoine Champin; Dave Longley. W3C. 16 July 2020. W3C Recommendation. URL: https://www.w3.org/TR/json-ld11/ [rdf-schema] RDF Schema 1.1 . Dan Brickley; Ramanathan Guha. W3C. 25 February 2014. W3C Recommendation. URL: https://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-schema/ [turtle] RDF 1.1 Turtle . Eric Prud'hommeaux; Gavin Carothers. W3C. 25 February 2014. W3C Recommendation. URL: https://www.w3.org/TR/turtle/ ↑