Import and Export File Formats - Autodesk Inventor 2010: No Experience Required - page 494

Inventor has the ability to communicate with many computer-aided design

(CAD) and non-CAD software applications.
The reasons for exporting or importing data are widely varied. You may
want to import an old AutoCAD fi le to convert to 3D, or you may need to export
a fi le to a rapid prototyping and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM)
application.
Regardless of the reason, you need fl exibility. This appendix lists the available
formats for exchange between other applications and Inventor.

Import File Formats

Inventor stores its data in several formats depending on the type of fi le you're
creating. You can also import a number of neutral fi le formats as well as data
directly from other 3D CAD systems. Here is a list of fi le extensions and the
source the data can come from:

Format Purpose

.idw Inventor 2D drawing fi le

.dwg Inventor and AutoCAD 2D drawing fi le

.ipt Inventor part fi le

.iam Inventor assembly fi le

.ipn Inventor presentation fi le

.ide Inventor library feature

.dwf , .dwfx

Autodesk Design Review Markup fi le

.dxf Neutral 2D fi le

.wire Autodesk Alias fi le

.sat ACIS kernel-neutral exchange

.igs , .ige , iges

Neutral 3D surface fi le

.stp, .ste, .step Neutral 3D solid fi le

.CATPart ,
.CATProduct

Dassault Catia V5 fi le

.x_b, .x_t Parasolids binary and text-based exchange

.prt , .asm

Pro/ENGINEER part and assembly fi le

.g, .neu Pro/ENGINEER kernel-based exchange

.prt , . sldprt ,
.asm , .sldasm

SolidWorks part and assembly

.prt UGS NX part and assembly

.jt Compressed-format fi le used by Siemens/PLM data-

management applications