ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

General Exchange Format

Okay, imagine you have two friends who are both really good at drawing. One of them likes to draw pictures of animals and the other one enjoys drawing pictures of cars. Now, let's say you want to give a picture of a car to the friend who likes animals, so they can see what a cool car looks like. But there's a problem, they can't understand the picture of the car because they only understand pictures of animals.

This is where a general exchange format comes in handy. It's like a special language that can help everyone understand each other's drawings. It's a way to take a picture, like the one of the car, and change it into a format that can be understood by different people.

So, for example, the general exchange format might take the picture of the car and change it into a special code. This code is like a secret message that the friend who likes animals can decode and understand. It tells them exactly how the car looks like by using special symbols and instructions.

Once the picture of the car is changed into this special code, your friend who likes animals can understand it. They can even tell you all about the car by using their own drawings of animals. It's like they can translate the car picture into their language.

This general exchange format is super helpful because it allows people with different interests and preferences to understand and share things with each other. It's like having a universal translator for pictures, making it easier for everyone to communicate and exchange information.