Editing Multilingual User Interface (section)

=== Non-Resource Storage and Retrieval ===
MS documentation recommends storing UI assets as resources since MUI fully supports retrieving from this storage, but it notes that MUI supports any other file format, such as XML, JSON or flat text file.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Karl-Bridge-Microsoft |title=Supporting System Language Settings - Win32 apps |url=https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/intl/supporting-system-language-settings |access-date=2022-07-09 |website=docs.microsoft.com |language=en-us}}</ref> This implies that using the resource retrieval aspect of MUI is not required for an application to be MUI-enabled. An application can use its own, custom UI asset retrieval logic.

To be MUI-enabled, the application must use the system language preferences. The custom UI asset retrieval logic might optionally use the MUI function GetFileMUIPath to leverage the MUI file location and naming conventions.