The family name 'Geodermatophilaceae' was first published by Normand et al. (1996) to contain the genera Geodermatophilus and Blastococcus, but a formal description and the designation of the type genus were not included, thus making the name invalid. Since then, the genus Modestobacter has been described as a member of the family 'Geodermatophilaceae' by Mevs et al. (2000). We hereby formally describe the family 'Geodermatophilaceae' which includes the recently described genus Modestobacter. The type genus of the family is Geodermatophilus.