Drawing Interchange File Format (Binary) R11/12

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vector-image · also known as Binary DXF (R11/12)

Binary DXF format is the binary encoded variant of the Drawing Interchange File Format, an exchange format for vector graphics developed by AutoDesk. They are probably the widely-used formats for exchanging vector data, and have become a de-facto industry standard. The format is owned by AutoDesk and typically changes with each release of their AutoCAD family of products. DXF files contain a tagged representation of the vector data. The structure comprises a Header section, followed by sections containing data on Classes, Tables, Blocks, Entities and, optionally, thumbnail images. Each section contains a series of data elements. each preceded by a group code tag, which indicates the type of data element. Binary DXF was first developed in AutoCAD Release 10. It should not be confused with the DXB format - this is an entirely separate AutoDesk format for binary encoding vector graphics. Binary DXF Release 11/12 is the version of the format associated with Releases 11 and 12 of the AutoCAD software.

Identify it

Extensions	`.dxf`
MIME types	`image/vnd.dxf`
Signatures	`4175746f4341442042696e617279204458460d0a1a00` at byte 0 (Binary DXF R11/12)
PRONOM	`fmt/81`
Wikidata	`Q43974223`

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Open it

AutoQ3D CommunityOpen sourcereads and writes · GNU General Public License / GNU General Public License, version 2.0
BlenderOpen sourcereads and writes · GNU General Public License, version 3.0
BRL-CADOpen sourcereads and writes · GNU Lesser General Public License, version 2.1
GDAL (WebAssembly)Open sourcereads and writes · LGPL-2.1-or-later / MIT
Misfit Model 3DOpen sourcereads and writes · GNU General Public License / GNU General Public License, version 2.0
OpenJUMPOpen sourcereads and writes · GNU General Public License, version 2.0
PotraceOpen sourcewrites · GNU General Public License
Q1252865Open sourcereads and writes · GNU General Public License, version 2.0
Q141674393Open sourcereads and writes · Apache Software License 2.0 / MIT License
Q251322Open sourcereads and writes · GNU Library General Public License, version 2.0 or later
Q3353120Open sourcereads and writes · GNU General Public License, version 2.0 or later
Q958908Open sourcewrites · GNU General Public License, version 2.0
Assimp (WebAssembly)Open sourcereads · BSD-3-Clause / MIT
CloudCompareOpen sourcereads · GNU General Public License
HeeksCADOpen sourcereads · 3-clause BSD License
libdxfrwOpen sourcereads · GNU General Public License, version 2.0
LibreOffice DrawOpen sourcereads · Mozilla Public License, version 2.0
Open InventorOpen sourcereads · GNU Lesser General Public License
PhotoRecOpen sourcereads · GNU General Public License
TherionOpen sourcereads · GNU General Public License
A9CADreads and writes · proprietary license
Adobe Acrobat 9 Proreads and writes
Adobe Illustratorreads and writes · proprietary license
Alibre Designreads and writes
Amapi Pro 7reads and writes
Amirareads and writes
AutoCADreads and writes · proprietary license / subscription
AutoCAD LT 2009reads and writes
Autodesk 3DS Max 8reads and writes
Autodesk 3DS Max 9reads and writes
Cinema 4Dreads and writes · proprietary license
Cobaltreads and writes
DrawPlus X2reads and writes
ExtraCADreads and writes
FloorPlan 3Dreads and writes
GNU LibreDWGreads and writes
HemoSpatwrites
IRONCADreads and writes
KeyCADreads and writes
Konvertorreads and writes

And 80 more in the JSON record.

Convert it

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To	With	Fidelity	Command and losses
Comma Separated Values	GDAL (WebAssembly)	Partial	in browser Geometries and attributes are kept as far as the target allows (GPX takes only points and lines, DXF drops attributes).
Geography Markup Language	GDAL (WebAssembly)	Partial	in browser Geometries and attributes are kept as far as the target allows (GPX takes only points and lines, DXF drops attributes).
GeoJSON	GDAL (WebAssembly)	Partial	in browser Geometries and attributes are kept as far as the target allows (GPX takes only points and lines, DXF drops attributes).
GeoPackage 1.0-1.31	GDAL (WebAssembly)	Partial	in browser Geometries and attributes are kept as far as the target allows (GPX takes only points and lines, DXF drops attributes).
GlTF	Assimp (WebAssembly)	Partial	in browser Meshes, materials and the scene graph are kept; animations, cameras and format-specific data may be lost. glTF is written as a .gltf and a .bin.
GPX	GDAL (WebAssembly)	Partial	in browser Geometries and attributes are kept as far as the target allows (GPX takes only points and lines, DXF drops attributes).
KML	GDAL (WebAssembly)	Partial	in browser Geometries and attributes are kept as far as the target allows (GPX takes only points and lines, DXF drops attributes).

Sources

From PRONOM, Wikidata. Updated 2026-10-20.

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