Open standards
Open Badges 3.0: credentials that stay portable
A credential is not a file or a hosted profile. Open Badges 3.0 gives it structured proof. Recipients can keep it. Anyone can check it without joining a closed network.
The standard
What Open Badges 3.0 is
Open Badges 3.0 is a standard for digital credentials. In practice, a badge is not just an image or a PDF. It carries structured proof about who issued it, who earned it, what was earned, the criteria, and how anyone can check it.
The work started at Mozilla and is now maintained by 1EdTech. The current specification is Open Badges 3.0.
That is the whole job of the standard: give a credential a life beyond a screenshot or a hosted profile page.
The problem
Why portable proof beats a file
Most credentials are easy to share and hard to trust. That is the problem Open Badges 3.0 is meant to solve.
Instead of asking an employer, school, partner, or compliance reviewer to trust a screenshot, the standard gives them a way to check what was earned, who issued it, and whether the proof is real.
If you run the program, the conversation changes from "here is a file" to "here is proof." If you earned it, the thing you worked for is not trapped on one vendor's profile page.
The contrast
PDF vs closed platform vs Open Badges 3.0
The gap is not a version number. It is whether a reviewer can trust the proof, whether the recipient can keep it, and what happens if the original vendor is no longer in the middle.
| Criterion | Closed badge platform | Open Badges 3.0 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Easy to fake | Easy to copy or edit. Trust is visual. | The page can look official. So can a screenshot. | Signed, structured proof. A copy of the image is not the credential. |
| Recipient ownership | A file they can attach. Not structured proof they can take elsewhere. | Often a profile inside one network. | The recipient can keep the signed credential, not only a page in one network. |
| Verify without an account | A reviewer has to trust the attachment. | Often requires joining the same platform. | Anyone can open a public verification page. No account required. |
| Survives vendor risk | The file survives. Trust does not. | Proof lives on the vendor's site. | The signature can be checked offline. Confirming the issuer and checking revocation still resolve through OpenCredia. |
The test
What happens after issuance
Anyone can say they support a standard. The harder question is what happens after the credential leaves the original system. Can recipients take it with them? Can outsiders verify it without an account? Does the proof still make sense beyond one hosted profile page?
That is where Open Badges 3.0 matters. Proof does not have to live only inside the product that issued it.
In practice
How OpenCredia uses the standard
OpenCredia issues credentials on Open Badges 3.0 and W3C Verifiable Credentials. The credential is not locked to a proprietary format.
Portable by default
Recipients keep credentials in a Wallet. They can download the signed JSON or JWT plus the badge image.
Public verification
Anyone can check authenticity in a browser. No account required.
Gate a workflow
When a flow needs a check, your team can run it through an API.
Standards-based trust
The proof is a signed credential. A profile page is not the proof.
Issue once. Recipients keep the proof. Anyone can verify. Open Badges 3.0 is how that proof stays portable beyond one vendor.
FAQs
Before you pick a vendor
Next
See if it fits your program
If you are evaluating Open Badges 3.0, the question is whether recipients keep the proof and whether anyone can verify it in a browser. That is what OpenCredia is built for.