Not only is the compact mzPAF text format human readable (with some expertise), it is also unambiguously software-parsable, either via a regular expression or a state machine parser. Such parsers are already implemented in the Python mzPAF package (), and also for several other languages. It is hoped that the vast majority of software tool writers can use existing parsing code without needing to implement their own parser (which is a non-trivial task). As explained in the Methods, it is expected that for other major classes of analytes, extended peak annotation formats should be defined in the future. These new standards also support features that were not available in previous formats, thereby providing standardization as well as additional functionality. We expect that these new standards will further accelerate the recent growth of spectral libraries in support of DIA, DDA, and SRM workflows, by making high-quality reference libraries and reusable software components more broadly available. In the context of the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data principles , it is essential to have open formats for spectral libraries with the ability to trace library elements back to the original MS source files (the mass spectra), including published sources with USIs 28 , analytes, InChI, SMILES, or protein accessions, enabling full transparency and traceability.