If you've worked with LaTeX bibliographies, you've encountered mysterious style files. The two main types — .bst and .bbx — belong to different systems and are not interchangeable.
.bst files (BibTeX styles)
Used with the classic BibTeX workflow (and natbib):
\\bibliographystyle{plainnat} % ← this loads plainnat.bst
\\bibliography{references}- Written in BibTeX's own stack-based language (notoriously hard to customize)
- Controls both citation formatting AND bibliography formatting
- Examples:
plain.bst,unsrt.bst,ieeetr.bst,apalike.bst
.bbx and .cbx files (biblatex styles)
Used with biblatex + Biber:
\\usepackage[style=authoryear]{biblatex}
% This loads authoryear.bbx (bibliography) and authoryear.cbx (citations).bbx= bibliography style (how the reference list looks).cbx= citation style (how in-text citations look)- Written in standard LaTeX — much easier to customize than
.bst
Which system am I using?
| Clue | System |
|---|---|
\\bibliographystyle{...} | BibTeX (.bst) |
\\usepackage{biblatex} | biblatex (.bbx/.cbx) |
\\bibliography{refs} | BibTeX |
\\addbibresource{refs.bib} | biblatex |
\\printbibliography | biblatex |
Can I convert between them?
No — .bst and .bbx are completely different formats. If you need to switch systems, see our natbib to biblatex migration guide.
Bibby AI handles both systems transparently. Try it free.