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> A file has no inherent format.
Not true. Every file has an inherent format.
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> The format of a file is determined by the programs that use it.
The operating systems that have become popular, Windows and Unix, both of which are 40+ years old, have file systems that treat the content of a file as a sequence of bytes. There are (or were) other operating systems that had much more detailed knowledge of file formats. It's an example of a common phenomenon in the history of computing: simplicity and low cost wins over technical sophistication. Something which is now causing the industry huge costs because the popular operating systems are so insecure.
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> How do those excerpts apply to XML? Why are there so many file formats - the XML file format, the JSON file format, the CSV file format, and so on? Isn't that contrary to the idea of formatless files?
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There's no such thing as a formatless file. You're talking about files that have a format, but whose format is unknown at a certain level of the system.
Michael Kay
Saxonica
