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I have been using Google Earth KML files for a while and I know they can contain style information such as line width and color. I've recently started working with shapefiles and learned that KML can be converted to a shapefile and the other way around.

Can a shapefile hold the style information as well so that if I send it to someone they will see it with the same style I chose?

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    Not many GIS vector formats can store style/symbology. Shapefiles can't. If you have the same GIS software as the person you are sending the shapefile to, you can include a layer file (QGIS .qlr, ArcGIS .lyrx).
    – user2856
    Commented Nov 25 at 8:49
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    Fun fact for including QGIS-style files: If they have the same name as the shapefile and are in the same folder, QGIS will automatically apply them when loading the shapefile into a project.
    – ThatMikaTho
    Commented Nov 27 at 7:48
  • @ThatMikaTho that's very cool
    – Bruce
    Commented Nov 28 at 10:05

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No, shapefile does not hold style information.

In the layout manager, you can export a style to XML. You can share this file along with your shapefile with any person you like. For details see the QGIS documentation.

Depending on the importance of the file type you can also use the tool "Package layers", which allows you to save a file as geopackage with your individual styling.

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