OpenOffice.org inherited many features from the original StarOffice upon which it was based including the OpenOffice.org XML file format which it retained until version 2, when it was replaced by the ISO/IEC standard OpenDocument Format (ODF).

Sun subsidizes the development of OpenOffice.org in order to use it as a base for its commercial proprietary StarOffice application software. Releases of StarOffice since version 6.0 have been based on the OpenOffice.org source code, with some additional proprietary components, including the following:

* Additional bundled fonts (especially East Asian language fonts)
* Adabas D database. (The OpenOffice database module is not Adabas)
* Additional document templates
* Clip art
* Sorting functionality for Asian versions
* Additional file filters
* Migration assessment tool (Enterprise Edition)
* Macro migration tool (Enterprise Edition)
* Configuration management tool (Enterprise Edition)