Lightweight Directory Interchange Format (LDIF) is a specification of the data format for information exchange between LDAP systems. This format was originally used only for the description of entries in a directory. Now in its current form (defined in RFC 2849), it can also serve for transferring change-related information among LDAP servers. There is 1:1 mapping between the operations of the LDAP protocol and types of entries in LDIF files.

An LDIF file is formed by entries specifying particular changes. The file can contain a set of entries to import, or it can contain change-related entries. The basic form of an import entry is as follows:

dn: <distinguished name>
<attrdesc>: <attrvalue>
<attrdesc>: <attrvalue>
<attrdesc>:: <base64-encoded-value>
<attrdesc>:< <URL>