[4] Computable Document Format supports GUI elements such as sliders, menus, and buttons.

Contents can include formatted text, tables, images, sounds, and animations.

[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] In contrast to static formats such as PDF, the CDF Player contains an entire runtime library of Mathematica allowing document content to be generated in response to user interaction[3] and digital textbooks.

The reader supports a plugin mode for Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera and Safari, which allows CDF content to be embedded inline in HTML pages.

Computable Document Format has been used in electronic books by Pearson Education,[18][19] specifically MyMathLab, to provide the content for the Wolfram Demonstrations Project, and to add client-side interactivity to Wolfram Alpha.