File Formats

HOOPS Exchange allows you to read and write a wide variety of file formats without needing to license any additional technology. You work through a standard interface, so once you complete an integration, you have access to the large number of formats supported by HOOPS Exchange and can easily access newly supported formats as well as updates to existing versions.

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Supported file formats. In blue, both import and export are supported. In gray, only import is supported.

Supported Import Formats

Below, we detail the specific capabilities of each reader and writer in addition to detailing their supported general features:

Format

Version

Extensions

Supported Platforms

Tess [1]

BREP

PMI

3MF

1.2.3

3MF

wy ly my an in

c_green

c_grey

c_grey

ACIS

Up to 2023

SAT, SAB

wy ly my an in

c_green

c_green

c_grey

AutoCAD - 2D

Up to DWG 2018 (RealDWG 2021)

DAE

wy ly mn ay in

c_green

c_grey

c_green

AutoCAD - 3D

Up to AutoCAD 2019

DWG, DXF

wy ly mn an in

c_green

c_green

c_grey

Autodesk 3DS

Any

3DS

wy ly my an in

t_green

c_grey

c_grey

Autodesk DWF

Any

DWF, DWFX

wy ly mn an in

t_green

c_grey

c_grey

Autodesk Inventor

Up to 2025

IPT, IAM

wy ly my an in

t_green

c_green

c_red

Autodesk Navisworks

From 2012 to 2025

NWD

wy ly mn an in

t_green

c_red

c_red

CATIA V4

Up to 4.2.5

MODEL, SESSION, DLV, EXP

wy ly my an in

c_green

c_green

c_green

CATIA V5

Up to V5_6R2024

CATDrawing, CATPart, CATProduct, CATShape, CGR

wy ly my an in

t_green

c_green

c_green

CATIA V6 / 3DExperience

Up to V5_6R2024

3DXML

wy ly my an in

t_green

c_green

c_green

COLLADA

Any

DAE

wy ly my an in

t_green

c_grey

c_grey

Creo - Pro/E

Pro/Engineer 19.0 to Creo 11.0

ASM, NEU, PRT, XAS, XPR

wy ly my an in

c_green

c_green

c_green

DGN [5]

7, 8

DGN

wy ly my an in

t_green

c_grey_g

c_grey

FBX

ASCII: from 7100 to 7500, Binary: All

FBX

wy ly my an in

t_green

c_grey

c_grey

GL Transmission Format

Version 2.0 only

GLTF, GLB

wy ly my an in

t_green

c_grey

c_grey

I-deas

Up to 13.x (NX 5), NX I-deas 6

MF1, ARC, UNV, PKG

wy ly my an in

c_green

c_green

c_green

IFC

IFC2x Editions 2, 3 and 4

IFC, IFCZIP

wy ly my ay iy

t_green

c_green

c_grey

IGES

5.1, 5.2, 5.3

IGS, IGES

wy ly my ay iy

c_green

c_green

c_grey

JT

Up to v10.9

JT

wy ly my ay iy

t_green

c_green

c_green

NX - Unigraphics

UG11 to UG18, UG NX, NX5 to NX12, NX1847 to NX2406

PRT

wy ly my an in

c_green

c_green

c_green

Parasolid

Up to 37.0

X_B, X_T, XMT, XMT_TXT

wy ly my ay iy

c_green

c_green

c_grey

PDF

All Versions

PDF

wy ly my ay iy

t_green

c_green

c_green

PRC

All Versions

PRC

wy ly my ay iy

t_green

c_green

c_green

Revit

2015 to 2025

RVT, RFA

wy ly mn an in

t_green

c_red

c_red

Rhino3D

From 4 to 8

3DM

wy ly my an in

c_green

c_green

c_grey

Solid Edge

1 to 20, ST1 to ST10, 2019 to 2024

ASM, PAR, PWD, PSM

wy ly my an in

c_green

c_green

c_red

SolidWorks

From 97 up to 2024

SLDASM, SLDPRT

wy ly my an iy

t_green

c_green

c_green

STEP

AP 203 Ed1, Ed2, AP 214, AP 242 Ed1, Ed2 (beta), Ed3 (beta)

STP, STEP, STPZ

wy ly my ay iy

c_green

c_green

c_green

STEP/XML

Any

STPX, STPXZ

wy ly my ay iy

c_green

c_green

c_green

Stereo Lithography (STL)

All Versions

STL

wy ly my an in

t_green

c_grey

c_grey

U3D

ECMA-363

U3D

wy ly my ay iy

t_green

c_grey

c_grey

VDA-FS

Version 1.0 and 2.0

VDA

wy ly my an in

c_green

c_green

c_grey

VRML

V1.0 and V2.0

WRL, VRML

wy ly my an in

t_green

c_grey

c_grey

Wavefront OBJ

Any

OBJ

wy ly my an in

t_green

c_grey

c_grey

Legend

  • c_green = Supported

  • c_grey_g = Partial or variable support

  • c_red = Unsupported

  • c_grey = This concept is not supported by this format

  • t_green = This file format provides tessellation data [1]

  • wn / wy = Windows

  • ln / ly = Linux

  • mn / my = macOS

  • an / ay = Android

  • in / iy = iOS

The data supported by the HOOPS Exchange readers can be broken down into six main categories:

  • Assembly data: The full assembly tree is provided. The information includes the names of each component, their colors, and transformations and whether a specific component is hidden. Support for instances, external references, and configurations is provided. The HOOPS Exchange technology also allows you to work in a special mode which allows you to load and unload components in an assembly. This allows you handle massive assemblies on a broad range of hardware.

  • B-rep: The complete topological and geometric definition of the model is provided. The geometry can be presented in its native form and a full set of evaluators are provided, or the user can ask HOOPS Exchange to post-process the data to adapt it to the destination system. During the post-processing step, it’s possible to split periodic surfaces, sew surfaces (particularly important for IGES), compute UV/3D curves, and approximate surfaces to B-spline surfaces.

  • Views: The definition of views including the filters it applies to the model is included. For some formats, the definition of a View can extend to more sophisticated concepts like cutting planes and exploded views.

  • PMI: We provide Product Manufacturing Information (PMI) in both a visual and semantic form. In the visual form, the data provided allows you to perfectly recreate how the model looked in the authoring system. In the semantic form, the PMI is presented in much more manageable data structures that enable developers to use this PMI to more easily implement advanced functionality within their application.

  • Visualization: All the information is included so that you can recreate the exact visual representation that was presented in the authoring application. HOOPS Exchange also provides advanced functionality to control the tessellation of the model. Furthermore, HOOPS Exchange can provide direct access to the visualization data if it was stored in the file, which can dramatically improve file loading speeds.

  • Miscellaneous: In addition to the information above, the HOOPS Exchange technology provides access to a variety of other pertinent information such as construction geometry, persistent IDs, face names, coordinate systems, layer/filter settings, and user defined attributes. The specifics of each of these are detailed in each format’s guide.

Supported Export Formats

The information for each type of file is reviewed in the page specific to the corresponding writer. For a brief summary of the capabilities of each writer, see the supported file formats table, below.

Format

Version

Extensions

Supported Platforms

Tess

B-rep

PMI

3MF

1.2.3

3MF

wy ly my an in

c_green

c_grey

c_grey

ACIS

5.0

SAT, SAB

wy ly my an in

c_grey

c_green

c_grey

IGES

5.1

IGS, IGES

wy ly my an iy

c_grey

c_green

c_grey

FBX [6]

7400, ASCII or Binary

FBX

wy ly my an in

c_green

c_grey

c_grey

GLTF

2.0

GLTF, GLB

wy ly my an in

c_green

c_grey

c_grey

JT [2]

8.1, 9.5, 10.0

JT

wy ly my an in

c_green

c_green

c_green

Parasolid [3]

12.1

X_T

wy ly my an iy

c_grey_g

c_green

c_grey

PRC

Latest

PRC

wy ly my an in

c_green

c_green

c_green

STEP [4]

AP 203 Ed2, AP 214 Ed1, AP 242 Ed1, Ed2 (beta), Ed3 (beta)

STP, STEP, STPZ

wy ly my an iy

c_green

c_green

c_green

Stereo Lithography (STL)

Any

STL

wy ly my an in

c_green

c_grey

c_grey

U3D

ECMA-363

U3D

wy ly my an in

c_green

c_grey

c_grey

VRML

1.0 and 2.0

VRML

wy ly my an in

c_green

c_grey

c_grey

Wavefront OBJ

Any

OBJ

wy ly my an in

c_green

c_grey

c_grey

Legend

  • c_green = Supported

  • c_grey_g = Partial or variable support

  • c_grey = This concept is not supported by this format

  • wn / wy = Windows

  • ln / ly = Linux

  • mn / my = macOS

  • an / ay = Android

  • in / iy = iOS

Footnotes

If you are evaluating HOOPS Exchange, you may want to get more familiar with our Supported Platforms page as well. Simply press the button Next when you are ready.