Software Abbreviations
70 abbreviations · part of Technology & Computer Abbreviations
Abbreviations for software licensing, open-source and source-available licenses, release stages, support lifecycles, package management, app platforms and widely used applications. These terms appear in license agreements, release notes, app stores and IT procurement documents. Knowing the difference between a GPL and an MIT license, or between an RC build and a GA release, matters to anyone who ships, buys or maintains software.
| Abbreviation | Stands for | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ADB | Android Debug Bridge | Command-line tool in Google's Android SDK Platform Tools that lets a computer talk to an Android device over USB or Wi-Fi to install apps, copy files, read logs and run… |
| AGPL | GNU Affero General Public License | Copyleft license that extends the GPL to software used over a network: if people interact with a modified AGPL program through a website or API, its source code must be… |
| AOSP | Android Open Source Project | Open-source code base of the Android operating system, maintained by Google and released mainly under the Apache 2.0 license. |
| APT | Advanced Package Tool | Package management system of Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint and related distributions, used to download, install, upgrade and remove software from online repositories while… |
| ASF | Apache Software Foundation | Nonprofit that hosts and governs hundreds of open-source projects, including the Apache HTTP Server, Kafka, Spark, Hadoop and Cassandra, released under the Apache… |
| BSD | Berkeley Software Distribution | Version of Unix developed at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1977 to 1995, and the family of operating systems descended from it, including FreeBSD… |
| BSL | Business Source License | Source-available license that lets anyone view, modify and use code non-commercially or within stated limits, then automatically converts to an open-source license… |
| BT | BitTorrent | Peer-to-peer file-sharing protocol that splits files into small pieces downloaded simultaneously from many users, spreading bandwidth costs among them. |
| CAL | Client Access License | Microsoft license granting a user or device the right to connect to server software such as Windows Server, Exchange Server or Remote Desktop Services. |
| CC | Creative Commons | Nonprofit organization and set of free public copyright licenses that let creators permit reuse of their work under chosen conditions, such as attribution or… |
| CC BY | Creative Commons Attribution License | Most permissive Creative Commons license: others may copy, adapt and use the work, even commercially, provided they credit the creator, link to the license and indicate… |
| CC0 | Creative Commons Zero | Public-domain dedication by which a creator waives all copyright and related rights in a work as far as the law allows. |
| CE | Community Edition | Free edition of a software product, often open source, offered alongside paid enterprise versions that add features and support. |
| CLA | Contributor license agreement | Agreement that contributors to an open-source project sign, granting the project or its sponsoring company a license to, or ownership of, their contributions, often… |
| COTS | Commercial off-the-shelf | Ready-made software or hardware bought from a vendor rather than custom-built, such as Microsoft Office or standard servers. |
| DAW | Digital audio workstation | Software for recording, editing, mixing and producing music and audio, such as Ableton Live, Logic Pro, Pro Tools, FL Studio and GarageBand. |
| DCO | Developer Certificate of Origin | Short statement, created for the Linux kernel in 2004, by which a contributor certifies they have the right to submit their code under the project's license. |
| DLL | Dynamic-link library | Windows file containing code and resources that several programs load and share at run time, such as dialog boxes, graphics routines or a language runtime. |
| DRM | Digital rights management | Technologies that restrict copying, sharing or playback of digital content such as streaming video, e-books, music and games. |
| EE | Enterprise Edition | Paid version of a software product aimed at businesses, adding features such as single sign-on, audit logs, clustering, priority support and compliance tools to the… |
| EOL | End of life | Date after which a vendor stops selling, supporting or patching a product. |
| ESR | Extended Support Release | Firefox and Thunderbird release channel that receives security fixes for about a year without frequent feature changes, intended for businesses, schools and other… |
| ESU | Extended Security Updates | Microsoft program that delivers critical security patches for a product after its official end of support, giving organizations time to migrate. |
| EULA | End-user license agreement | License between a software publisher and the person installing or using the software, granting limited rights to use it rather than selling a copy. |
| FLOSS | Free/libre and open-source software | Equivalent of FOSS that adds the word "libre" to make clear that "free" means liberty rather than zero cost. |
| FOSS | Free and open-source software | Software whose license lets anyone run, study, modify and redistribute it, combining the "free software" and "open source" traditions under one neutral label. |
| FSF | Free Software Foundation | Boston-based nonprofit founded by Richard Stallman in 1985 to promote software freedom. |
| FW | Firmware | Low-level software built into hardware such as routers, SSDs, keyboards, cameras and motherboards that controls the device's basic functions. |
| GA | General availability | Release stage at which software is finished, supported and offered to all customers, after alpha, beta and release-candidate phases. |
| GIMP | GNU Image Manipulation Program | Free, open-source raster graphics editor for photo retouching, image composition and digital painting, available for Windows, macOS and Linux. |
| GM | Golden master | Final build of software approved for release, especially in Apple's terminology for iOS and macOS versions given to developers shortly before public launch. |
| GMS | Google Mobile Services | Bundle of Google apps and APIs, including the Play Store, Gmail, Maps, YouTube and Google Play services, that phone makers license separately from open-source Android. |
| GNOME | GNU Network Object Model Environment | Free desktop environment for Linux and other Unix-like systems, the default on Ubuntu, Fedora Workstation and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. |
| GNU | GNU's Not Unix | Free operating-system project launched by Richard Stallman in 1983, whose compiler (GCC), C library, core utilities and Bash shell combine with the Linux kernel in most… |
| GPL | GNU General Public License | Copyleft open-source license that lets anyone use, study, modify and share software, provided that distributed modified versions are released under the same license… |
| GRUB | GRand Unified Bootloader | Boot loader used by most Linux distributions to start the operating system, showing a menu to choose between kernels or between Linux and Windows on dual-boot PCs. |
| i18n | Internationalization | Designing software so it can be adapted to different languages, regions and scripts without code changes, by moving user-facing text into translation files and handling… |
| IAP | In-app purchase | Payment made inside a mobile or desktop app for digital goods such as extra features, subscriptions, game currency or content, processed through the platform's billing… |
| ISV | Independent software vendor | Company that makes and sells software products, usually built to run on another firm's platform, such as apps for Windows, Salesforce or SAP. |
| KDE | K Desktop Environment | Free software community best known for the Plasma desktop environment for Linux and other Unix-like systems, along with applications such as Dolphin, Kdenlive and Krita. |
| KMS | Key Management Service | Microsoft volume-activation technology that lets organizations activate Windows and Office on their own network instead of contacting Microsoft for each machine. |
| l10n | Localization | Adapting internationalized software for a specific language and region, including translating text, formatting dates and currencies, swapping images and following local… |
| LGPL | GNU Lesser General Public License | Weaker copyleft license that lets proprietary programs link to a covered library without becoming open source themselves, while changes to the library itself must still… |
| LTS | Long-term support | Designation for software versions that receive security and bug fixes for an extended period, typically several years, rather than being superseded quickly. |
| LTSC | Long-Term Servicing Channel | Windows edition for fixed-purpose devices such as medical equipment, ATMs, kiosks and factory machines, receiving security updates for five to ten years without feature… |
| M365 | Microsoft 365 | Microsoft's subscription bundle of Office apps such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, cloud services such as Exchange Online, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams, and… |
| MIT | MIT License | Short, permissive open-source license, named after the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, that lets anyone use, copy, modify, merge, sell and sublicense software as… |
| MPL | Mozilla Public License | Open-source license with "weak", file-level copyleft: modified files must stay open, but they may be combined with proprietary code in a larger work. |
| NLE | Non-linear editing | Video and audio editing in which any frame can be accessed and rearranged at any time without altering the source footage, as in Adobe Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve… |
| OBS | Open Broadcaster Software | Free, open-source program for screen recording and live streaming to platforms such as Twitch and YouTube, combining cameras, game capture, images and audio into… |
| OEM | Original equipment manufacturer | Company whose products or components are sold under another firm's brand, or, in the PC world, the maker that builds and sells complete systems such as Dell, HP and… |
| OLE | Object Linking and Embedding | Microsoft technology that lets a document contain live content from another application, such as an Excel chart inside a Word report that opens in Excel when… |
| OSI | Open Source Initiative | Nonprofit founded in 1998 that maintains the Open Source Definition and approves licenses as "OSI-approved", the usual benchmark for whether a license counts as open… |
| OSS | Open-source software | Software distributed with its source code under a license that permits use, modification and redistribution, meeting the Open Source Definition maintained by the Open… |
| OTA | Over-the-air update | Software or firmware update delivered wirelessly over Wi-Fi or a cellular connection, without plugging the device into a computer. |
| RC | Release candidate | Build believed to be ready for release and published for final testing; if no serious bugs appear, it ships as the final version unchanged. |
| ROM | ROM image | File containing a copy of the data from a read-only memory chip, such as a video-game cartridge or a device's firmware. |
| RPM | RPM Package Manager | Package format and tool used by Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Fedora, openSUSE and related distributions to install, update and remove software. |
| RTM | Release to manufacturing | Milestone at which a final software build is handed to hardware makers and disc manufacturers, historically weeks or months before retail availability. |
| SCCM | System Center Configuration Manager | Microsoft systems-management product used to deploy software, operating systems and updates and to inventory hardware across large fleets of Windows PCs and servers. |
| SP | Service pack | Bundle of updates, fixes and sometimes new features released as one installable package for an operating system or application. |
| SPDX | Software Package Data Exchange | Open standard, maintained by the Linux Foundation, for describing software components, their licenses and copyrights in machine-readable form. |
| SSPL | Server Side Public License | Source-available license created by MongoDB in 2018 that requires any company offering the software as a service to release the source code of its whole service stack. |
| SW | Software | Shorthand for software in engineering documents, job titles, version labels and specification sheets, often paired with HW for hardware. |
| UWP | Universal Windows Platform | Microsoft app platform introduced with Windows 10 in 2015 for building apps that run across PCs, Xbox, HoloLens and the now-discontinued Windows phones from one code… |
| VAR | Value-added reseller | Company that resells hardware or software from vendors such as Cisco, Microsoft or Dell together with its own services, including installation, configuration… |
| VLC | VideoLAN Client | Free, open-source media player from the nonprofit VideoLAN project that plays nearly any audio or video file, disc or network stream without extra codecs. |
| VST | Virtual Studio Technology | Plug-in standard created by Steinberg that lets software instruments and audio effects, such as synthesizers, compressors and reverbs, run inside digital audio… |
| Wine | Wine Is Not an Emulator | Compatibility layer that runs Windows applications on Linux, macOS and other Unix-like systems by translating Windows API calls into native ones, with no Windows… |
| WSUS | Windows Server Update Services | Microsoft server role that lets organizations download, approve and distribute Windows updates to their own computers, controlling which patches install and when. |
More technology & computer abbreviations
- Artificial Intelligence Abbreviations (103)
- Cloud Computing Abbreviations (63)
- Computer Abbreviations (92)
- Computer Hardware Abbreviations (151)
- Consumer Electronics Abbreviations (104)
- Cryptocurrency & Blockchain Abbreviations (74)
- Cybersecurity Abbreviations (119)
- Data & Database Abbreviations (53)
- File Format Abbreviations (125)
- Internet & Web Abbreviations (76)
- Networking Abbreviations (113)
- Programming Abbreviations (154)
- Telecom Abbreviations (114)