Design Web Format (DWF) is a
file format developed by
Autodesk
Autodesk, Inc. is an American multinational software corporation that makes software products and services for the architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, media, education, and entertainment industries. Autodesk is headquartered ...
for the efficient distribution and communication of rich design data to anyone who needs to view, review, or print design files. Because DWF files are highly
compressed, they are smaller and faster to transmit than design files, without the overhead associated with complex
CAD drawings (or the management of external links and dependencies). With DWF functionality, publishers of design data can limit the specific design data and plot styles to only what they want recipients to see and can publish multisheet drawing sets from multiple
AutoCAD
AutoCAD is a commercial computer-aided design (CAD) and drafting software application. Developed and marketed by Autodesk, AutoCAD was first released in December 1982 as a desktop app running on microcomputers with internal graphics controllers. ...
drawings in a single DWF file. They can also publish
3D models from most Autodesk design applications.
DWF files are not a replacement for native CAD formats such as AutoCAD drawings (
DWG). The sole purpose of DWF is to allow designers, engineers, project managers, and their colleagues to communicate design information and design content to anyone needing to view, review, or print design information – without these team members needing to know AutoCAD or other
design software.
An Autodesk DWF advocate blog cites as DWFs strengths over alternatives that the files have very high mathematical precision, and contain
meta-data for sheets, objects and markup data. Another significant strength is that comments and markup can be reintroduced to, and edited in, some Autodesk products, such as
Revit and
AutoCAD
AutoCAD is a commercial computer-aided design (CAD) and drafting software application. Developed and marketed by Autodesk, AutoCAD was first released in December 1982 as a desktop app running on microcomputers with internal graphics controllers. ...
.
The AutoCAD
file format (.dwfx) is based on
ISO/IEC 29500-2:2008 Open Packaging Conventions
The Open Packaging Conventions (OPC) is a container-file technology initially created by Microsoft to store a combination of XML and non-XML files that together form a single entity such as an Open XML Paper Specification (OpenXPS) document. OPC ...
.
Technology
DWF is a file format developed by Autodesk for representing design data in a manner that is independent of the original application software, hardware, and operating system used to create that design data. A DWF file can describe design data containing any combination of text, graphics, and images in a device independent and resolution independent format. These files can be one sheet or multiple sheets, very simple or extremely complex with a rich use of fonts, graphics, color, and images. The format also includes intelligent
metadata that captures the design intent of the data being represented.
The DWF technology centers on three components:
*
C++
C, or c, is the third letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''cee'' (pronounced ), plural ''cees''.
History
"C" ...
libraries for developers
* a viewer for project team members who wish to view design data without knowing AutoCAD
* a writer that allows anyone to create a DWF file from any application
DWF Toolkit
DWF is an open file format. Autodesk publishes the DWF specification and makes available
C++
C, or c, is the third letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''cee'' (pronounced ), plural ''cees''.
History
"C" ...
libraries (not available anymore) for any developer who wants to build applications around the DWF format, with the DWF Toolkit. Furthermore, DWF is based on other industry standards such as
ZLIB,
XML
Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. T ...
, and common image formats.
DWF files (since version 6.0) are a
ZIP-compressed container for the drawing files; despite the first few bytes of the file containing a DWF header, renaming a .dwf file to .zip will allow the component files inside to be viewed with archive compression software. Amongst various XML and binary files, is a
PNG format thumbnail preview.
DWF can be interfaced with
.NET Libraries.
Design Review
Autodesk Design Reviewis a free viewing application that enables all members of the project team to easily view, measure, markup and print designs shared electronically. Built around the DWF file format, Design Review enables users to view and print complex 2D and 3D drawings, maps, and models published from Autodesk design applications or from the DWF Writer.
Also, all Markups and Annotations created in Design Review can be imported to the original file when using Autodesk applications, such as AutoCAD, Inventor or Revit Architectural. This feature makes DWF the ideal format for design reviewing and collaboration processes.
Although an Autodesk representative stated on the Official Autodesk user Forums in September 2013 that the application would be discontinued,
an update to Autodesk Design Review was released in 2017.
DWF Writer
Autodesk DWF Writer software publishes the DWF format from CAD applications that do not offer built-in DWF publishing, such as Bentley MicroStation or Dassault's Solidworks software. Autodesk DWF Writer is a Windows
printer driver
In computers, a printer driver or a print processor is a piece of software on a computer that converts the data to be printed to a format that a printer can understand. The purpose of printer drivers is to allow applications to do printing without ...
that converts files to DWF format. The result is that the entire project team can standardize on a common file format to exchange and review designs and sheet sets, at no additional cost.
Freewheel
In 2007, Autodesk introduced an online translator for DWFs called
Freewheel. Freewheel was a way to view a DWF file without downloading software. It was also a
web service which offered developers a web-based interface for viewing, querying, and manipulating DWF files.
Freewheel has been replaced by the web based viewing and editing
web service Autodesk 360.
Platforms
Autodesk's DWF viewers (except for Freewheel) are all based on
Microsoft Windows.
The DWF Toolkit is available on
Microsoft Windows,
Linux, and
Mac OS X.
History
The DWF format first appeared in 1995 as part of the unveiling of Autodesk's "WHIP!"
Netscape Navigator plug-in. The format was originally referred to as the Drawing Web Format, since DWF files were generated by the Autodesk Internet Publishing Kit. As the format grew in use beyond just AutoCAD, it was renamed to Design Web Format. Although originally a 2D-only format, DWF has evolved to include 3D. Today DWF files are generated by all Autodesk products. In addition, there are a variety of third-party applications that make use of the format.
Alternatives
PDF
Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems ...
is an internationally recognized
open file format developed by
Adobe Systems
Adobe Inc. ( ), originally called Adobe Systems Incorporated, is an American multinational computer software company incorporated in Delaware
and headquartered in San Jose, California. It has historically specialized in software for the crea ...
to allow electronic exchange of any printable document, independent of the source application software, hardware and operating system.
PDF/E
ISO 24517-1:2008 is an ISO Standard published in 2008.
* Document management—Engineering document format using PDF—Part 1: Use of PDF 1.6 (PDF/E-1)
This standard defines a format (PDF/E) for the creation of documents used in geospatial, co ...
is a subset of v1.6 of the PDF specification specifically designed for engineering use.
SVG
Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is an XML-based vector image format for defining two-dimensional graphics, having support for interactivity and animation. The SVG specification is an open standard developed by the World Wide Web Consortium s ...
(Scalable Vector Graphics) is an
open, XML based file format. It is suitable for use both as a format for creating and editing drawings and as a format for viewing and publication. For instance,
Inkscape uses SVG as its native format, and both the
Firefox and
Opera browsers natively display SVG.
See also
*
CAD
*
DWG
*
DXF
AutoCAD DXF (Drawing Interchange Format, or Drawing Exchange Format) is a CAD data file format developed by Autodesk for enabling data interoperability between AutoCAD and other programs.
DXF was introduced in December 1982 as part of AutoCAD ...
*
PDF
Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems ...
*
PDF/E
ISO 24517-1:2008 is an ISO Standard published in 2008.
* Document management—Engineering document format using PDF—Part 1: Use of PDF 1.6 (PDF/E-1)
This standard defines a format (PDF/E) for the creation of documents used in geospatial, co ...
*
Epaper (Portable Drawing)
*
Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)
References
External links
New format DWFxbased on
XML Paper Specification
Open XML Paper Specification (also referred to as OpenXPS) is an open specification for a page description language and a fixed-document format. Microsoft developed it as the XML Paper Specification (XPS). In June 2009, Ecma International adopt ...
{{CAD software
CAD file formats
Vector graphics markup languages