DXF
From Just Solve the File Format Problem
DXF stands for Drawing Exchange Format (or Drawing Interchange Format) and was created by AutoDesk for their AutoCAD and AutoDRAW CAD systems.
There are ASCII (plain text) and binary variants, since AutoCAD Release 10, of DXF. The ASCII variant is apparently more prominent. Both ASCII and Binary versions can be identified using the same tag as the DWG format. Binary DXF is not to be confused with DXB, a related but distinct format.
Contents |
Identifiers
| Format | PRONOM (ascii) | PRONOM (binary) |
|---|---|---|
| DXF (Generic) | fmt/63 | fmt/1394 |
| DXF 1.0 | fmt/64 | |
| DXF 1.2 | fmt/65 | |
| DXF 1.3 | fmt/66 | |
| DXF 1.4 | fmt/67 | |
| DXF 2.0 | fmt/68 | |
| DXF 2.1 | fmt/69 | |
| DXF 2.2 | fmt/70 | |
| DXF 2.5 | fmt/71 | |
| DXF 2.6 | fmt/72 | |
| DXF R9 | fmt/73 | |
| DXF R10 | fmt/74 | fmt/80 |
| DXF R11/R12 | fmt/75 | fmt/81 |
| DXF R13 | fmt/76 | fmt/82 |
| DXF R14 | fmt/77 | fmt/83 |
| DXF 2000-2002 | fmt/78 | fmt/84 |
| DXF 2004/2005/2006 | fmt/79 | fmt/85 |
| DXF 2007/2008/2009 | fmt/433 | fmt/1390 |
| DXF 2010/2011/2012 | fmt/435 | fmt/1391 |
| DXF 2013/2014/2015/2016/2017 | fmt/532 | fmt/1392 |
| DXF 2018/2019/2020/2021 | fmt/1389 | fmt/1393 |
Identification
Binary DXF files begin with the ASCII signature "AutoCAD Binary DXF".
ASCII DXF files usually begin with 0x30 0x0d 0x0a, followed by "SECTION".
Software
Sample files
Resources
- Wikipedia page on DXF
- AutoDesk DXF Reference
- AutoCAD Release 12 DXF Reference
- AutoCAD DXF File Format Summary, from the Encyclopedia of Graphics File Formats
- Official AutoDesk specifications for each version of AutoCAD (13 and higher), for example this from AutoCAD 2008
- Minimum Requirements for Creating a DXF File of a 3D Model (textfiles.com; Sept 1993 version)
- Drawing Interchange and File Formats Release 12 (from Autodesk, 1992)
