Key Facts
- Regulator
- ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 7, Software and systems engineering (published jointly by ISO, IEC and IEEE as ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119)
- Latest version
- ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119 is a multi-part series. Part 1 (General concepts) is Edition 2, 2022. Part 2 (Test processes) is Edition 2, 2021. Both are published and supersede the withdrawn 2013 editions.
- Effective
- 4 February 2022
- Official text
- www.iso.org ↗
What is ISO/IEC 29119?
ISO/IEC 29119, formally ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119, is the international software testing standard series. ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 7 maintains it, and ISO, IEC and IEEE publish it jointly. It applies to testers, test managers, developers and project managers in any organisation, project or testing activity, whatever lifecycle model they use.
The series is titled Software and systems engineering — Software testing. It runs to several parts, so "ISO/IEC 29119" can mean any of them. Two matter most for a first read:
- Part 1, General concepts, is Edition 2, published in 2022. It sets out the general concepts in software testing and the key concepts for the whole series.
- Part 2, Test processes, is Edition 2, published in 2021. It specifies the test processes themselves.
Both supersede withdrawn 2013 editions, so a citation to the 2013 text is out of date. Parts 3 and 4, on documentation and techniques, followed in 2021. We checked these four parts against ISO's project records; check ISO's catalogue for any other part before you cite it.
Why it matters
The tender asks whether your software testing follows a recognised standard. Your team tests thoroughly, but the practice lives in people's heads and a handful of ticket templates.
That is the gap the ISO/IEC 29119 software testing standard addresses. It gives testing a shared vocabulary and a defined process you can describe to someone outside the team. Part 1 fixes the concepts for the whole series, so a tester, a developer and a project manager mean the same thing by the same terms.
Testing you can't describe is testing you can't defend.
Where the standard turns up, expect a customer contract, a tender or an internal quality policy naming it. We found no regulator that does.
Who it applies to
The standard is intended for, but not limited to, testers, test managers, developers and project managers, particularly those who govern, manage and implement software testing. Part 2 applies to testing in all software development lifecycle models.
It matters least to a firm that buys software and neither builds nor tests it.
Obligation. ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119 is not a law. Part 2 words its processes as ones that "can be used" to govern, manage and implement testing, and the ISO pages we checked impose no duty on anyone. On that wording, treat it as voluntary. It binds you only where a contract or tender names it, and then only for the party that signed.
The nearest ISO 27001 hook is control A.8.29, which asks for security testing in development and acceptance but does not say how to organise testing. ISO/IEC 29119 covers software testing as a whole, not security alone. See A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance in the ISO 27001 vault.
The UK position
No UK law or regulator that we checked names ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119. A UK firm meets it commercially: a customer's supplier requirements or a tender may ask for testing aligned to it, or an internal quality team may adopt it as its reference. Outside such a request, a UK firm rarely meets it.
When a questionnaire does ask, the useful reply is a short description of your test process set against the Part 2 process model. A bare claim of "ISO 29119 certified" is not one, because we found no ISO certification scheme for it (see the FAQ).
Key requirements
ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119 is a concepts-and-processes standard. It does not prescribe a tool, a method or a team structure. Its content splits across the parts below.
ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119-1: general concepts
Part 1 is the vocabulary and the frame. It specifies the general concepts in software testing and presents the key concepts for the series. Read it first if your team uses "test", "test plan" and "test case" loosely, because the later parts build on its definitions.
ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119-2: test processes
Part 2 comprises generic test process descriptions that define the software testing processes, supported by informative diagrams. The scope names three kinds of activity the processes serve:
- Governing testing. The direction and oversight under which testing happens in an organisation.
- Managing testing. Planning, monitoring and controlling testing on a project.
- Implementing testing. The hands-on work of designing and running tests.
Because the descriptions are generic, they say what testing involves, not which methodology to adopt. A test process that only exists in a slide deck isn't a process, so the value is in the team's records matching the model, not in the model alone.
ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119-3 and 29119-4: documentation and techniques
Two further parts build directly on the Part 2 processes:
- Part 3, Test documentation, sets out templates for test documentation. Each document it describes is an output of a Part 2 process, so a test plan or report traces back to a defined step.
- Part 4, Test techniques, defines the test design techniques used in the Part 2 test design and implementation process.
Several neighbouring standards are worth knowing by name:
- ISO/IEC/IEEE 12207, software life cycle processes.
- ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288, system life cycle processes.
- ISO/IEC 25010, the product quality model.
Frequently asked questions
ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119-1:2022 is the current Part 1, and Parts 2, 3 and 4 are all 2021 editions. Each replaced a first edition from 2013, or from 2015 for Part 4, and those are withdrawn. The ISO project records we checked in October 2026 showed no revision under way for any of the four parts.
We found no ISO certification scheme for organisations against ISO/IEC 29119. ISO publishes the series as concepts, processes, documentation templates and techniques, not as an auditable management system. If a customer asks for "ISO 29119 certified", what you can usually show is test documentation in the shape Part 3 describes, traced to the Part 2 processes.
No. ISO 27001 control A.8.29 requires security testing during development and acceptance, but it names no testing standard, and certification does not depend on ISO/IEC 29119. The series can sit underneath that control: the Part 2 processes give the testing a defined shape, and Part 3 documentation records what was tested and what the results were.
Yes. Parts 2 and 3 of ISO/IEC 29119 each state that they apply to testing in all software development lifecycle models, so neither ties a team to a waterfall sequence. An agile team maps its sprint-level testing onto the Part 2 processes and keeps the Part 3 documentation in the tools it already uses.
IEEE 829 was IEEE's standard for software and system test documentation, last published as IEEE 829-2008. IEEE lists it as superseded by the first editions of ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119 Parts 1 to 4, not by Part 3 alone. Those editions have since been replaced, and Part 3 is now the closest match to IEEE 829's documentation scope.