---
id: vobject
version: "0.9.9"
license: Apache
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# vobject — A full-featured Python package for parsing and creating iCalendar and vCard files

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 1.7M/mo

## What it is and what it does

vobject is a Python library for reading and writing iCalendar (.ics) and vCard (.vcs) files—the standard formats for calendar events and contact information. It parses these text-based formats into Python objects you can work with programmatically, and serializes Python data structures back into valid iCalendar or vCard strings. The library handles character encoding automatically and depends on pytz, six, and python-dateutil for timezone and date handling.

The package is marked Production/Stable and has been actively maintained since 2006. It's designed for developers who need to integrate calendar or contact data into Python applications—reading events from .ics files, building contact databases from vCard exports, or generating calendar feeds. The three runtime dependencies are all widely used and stable, keeping the install footprint small.

Use it for:

- Parse .ics calendar files to extract events and convert them to Python objects for database storage or processing
- Read vCard contact files and transform them into application-specific contact data structures
- Generate iCalendar or vCard output from Python data to share calendar events or contacts with other systems
- Build calendar synchronization tools that need to read and write standard calendar formats
- Create contact management utilities that import/export vCard files with proper encoding handling

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Parses and serializes iCalendar and vCard files, converting them to and from Python data structures while handling relevant encodings.

Yes. vobject is a mature, actively maintained library with low install friction and no known vulnerabilities. If you need to parse or generate iCalendar or vCard files in Python, this is the standard choice. The permissive Apache license poses no restrictions. The only caveat is that hCalendar serialization is marked experimental, so verify that feature's stability if you plan to use it.

## Install

pip install vobject
uv add vobject
poetry add vobject

## Installing vobject

Before you install: Low install friction with three lightweight runtime dependencies (pytz, six, python-dateutil). Actively maintained with recent commits; last release was 606 days ago, indicating stable, mature code rather than rapid iteration.

License in practice: Apache permissive license allows commercial and private use with minimal restrictions; you can use, modify, and distribute this package freely as long as you include the license notice.

Quickstart:

pip install vobject

import vobject

# Parse a vCard or iCalendar string
obj = vobject.readOne(ics_or_vcard_string)
print(obj.serialize())

Verify before relying:

- Whether experimental hCalendar serialization is production-ready or carries known limitations
- Current Python 3 version support scope (classifiers list 'Python :: 3' but no minor versions specified)

## Package facts

- License: Apache (permissive)
- Python support: unspecified
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 1.7M/month (top 5,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

icalendar parser python, vcard parsing library, ics file reader, calendar event parsing, contact card serialization, icalendar vcard conversion, python calendar data structures, calendar-data, contact-data, file-format

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