When a file format become a Standard

Anybody can define a new format -- but not all formats become Standards

A need for it

A description of the structure of the files

Some tools to produce it

Some code to read/use it (library, plugin etc)

Some users and developers to adopt it

Some standards organization(s) to recognise it

ISO (International Standards Organization), IEEE (Intistitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), IETF (Interneet Engineering Task Force), W3C (Web Consortium), ECMA (European Computer Manufacturers Association, now Ecma International.