A method, program and system for establishing compatibility between heterogeneous web server access log formats are provided. The invention comprises supplying a description of an access log file of a web server and opening a customizable configuration file. If the access log is static, the user sets the tog pattern definition to describe the data elements, order, and syntax of the log entries. If the access log is dynamic, the user sets a dictionary feature for a log pattern definition. The dictionary feature provides the ability to dynamically adapt to changes in the access log file's data order, syntax and number of data elements. A computer process invokes a web server access log translation engine (WSALTE) which converts the described web server access log file to Common Log Format (CLF) and returns the translated file back to the computer process.