From a model specification described in XML Metadata Interchange (XMI), EMF provides tools and runtime support to produce a set of Java classes for the model, a set of adapter classes that enable viewing and command-based editing of the model, and a basic editor.

Most important of all, EMF provides the foundation for interoperability with other EMF-based tools and applications.

According to Ed Merks, EMF project lead, "Ecore is the defacto reference implementation of OMG's EMOF" (Essential Meta-Object Facility).

Still according to Merks, EMOF was actually defined by OMG as a simplified version of the more comprehensive 'C'MOF by drawing on the experience of the successful simplification of Ecore's original implementation.

[2] Using Ecore as a foundational meta-model allows a modeler to take advantage of the entire EMF ecosystem and tooling - in as much as it's then reasonably easy to map application-level models back to Ecore.