Jira File Format (.jira): What It Is and How to Open It

Jira at a glance#

Full name	Jira wiki markup
File extension	.jira
Category	Documents
Developer	Atlassian
Compression	Uncompressed
FileFlip support	FileFlip reads and writes this format

What a .jira file can hold#

These are the things a Jira file either supports or does not, and they are what decides whether a conversion keeps everything or quietly drops something.

Selectable text	Yes
Human readable	Yes

Strengths and limitations of Jira#

What Jira does well

Quick to type from a keyboard for what issue tracking needs most: bold text, code blocks, tables, and links
Shares its syntax family with Confluence wiki markup, so the two transfer between each other with little change
Still readable as plain text without any renderer, unlike the JSON that has replaced it as Jira's storage format

Where Jira falls short

No longer the editing or storage format in Jira Cloud, which stores rich text as the Atlassian Document Format (ADF), a JSON tree, not wiki markup text
Typing wiki markup into the current Jira and Confluence Cloud editor gets it auto-converted to rich text immediately, so a file in this syntax isn't directly editable there
Differs from Markdown in small, easy-to-miss ways, such as *bold* meaning italic in some contexts, so pasted Markdown often renders wrong

Reach for Jira wiki markup when scripting issues through the REST API's legacy text fields, or working in a Jira Server or Data Center instance that still edits comments and descriptions as wiki markup directly.

Convert Jira wiki markup to another format when moving issue content into documentation, a wiki, or anywhere outside Jira and Confluence.

How to open a .jira file#

A .jira file opens in the programs below, grouped by the platform you are on. If you would rather not install anything, FileFlip converts Jira into a format your machine already opens, and it does it in the browser tab rather than on a server.

Platform	Programs that open it
Windows	Visual Studio Code, Notepad++
macOS	Visual Studio Code, BBEdit
Linux	Visual Studio Code, Vim, Emacs
Web	Jira, Confluence, FileFlip

Jira questions people ask#

Is Jira wiki markup still used?

Jira wiki markup is no longer the storage format in Jira Cloud, which switched to the Atlassian Document Format, a JSON structure produced by a rich-text editor. It still shows up in Jira Server and Data Center instances, in older exports, and in some legacy REST API fields, which is why converters still need to read it.

Why doesn't my Markdown work when pasted into Jira?

Jira's comment and description fields use their own wiki markup, not Markdown, and the two syntaxes overlap just enough to cause confusion, such as asterisks meaning different things in each. Pasted Markdown symbols are usually shown as literal characters instead of being rendered as formatting.

What's the difference between Jira markup and Confluence markup?

Jira wiki markup and Confluence wiki markup come from the same Atlassian syntax family and share most of their formatting rules for bold text, lists, and tables. Confluence adds more macro and layout syntax for building full pages, since Jira's markup only ever had to fill in an issue description or a comment.

Converting Jira files#

Every conversion runs inside your browser. The file is read from your disk, the work happens on your own machine, and nothing is uploaded. How FileFlip works names the engine behind each family and how to verify that for yourself.

Jira File Format (.jira)