Standard ASCII text files used in CAD products such as AutoCAD to store vector data. Uses the extension .DXF.

The basic organization of a AutoCAD DXF file is as follows:

  • HEADER section - General information about the drawing. Each parameter has a variable name and an associated value.
  • TABLES section - This section contains definitions of named items.
Linetype (LTYPE) table
Layer table
Text style (STYLE) table
View table
User Coordinate System (UCS) table
Viewport configuration (VPORT) table
  • BLOCKS section - This section contains Block Definition entities describing the entities comprising each Block in the drawing.
  • ENTITIES section - This section contains the drawing entities, including any Block References.
  • END OF FILE

online-documentations of several DXF-versions: