Save and load files > File types overview
  
File types overview
Creo Elements/Direct Modeling supports many file types, including files created in other CAD systems and four native file formats. The format you choose depends on how you need to work with your data.
Creo Elements/Direct Modeling has four native file types:
Package files contain all the data for a project in a single file.
3D Data files include instance and contents files. These two types of files work together to contain project data. When you save 3D data files, you can open an entire assembly or just a subassembly or part. Please read 3D Data files for more information.
Session files contain the parts, assemblies, workplanes, and workplane sets you have open, along with your settings for the environment such as units, lights, and viewports. Use them for temporary storage of projects in progress.
* 
Session files may not be compatible among different versions of Creo Elements/Direct Modeling.
Environment files store all the active environment's settings for things such as units, viewports, etc.
You can save the following file types without an additional license and without activating a module; however, you cannot load these files in Creo Elements/Direct Modeling:
STL: Stereolithography files, which is used by some rapid prototyping systems.
VRML: Virtual Reality Modeling Language, versions 1.0 and 2.0
IGES: Initial Graphics Exchange Specifications standard (version 5.0 or higher)
STEP: Standard for the Exchange of Product model data, as defined in ISO/IEC standard 10303
You can load the following formats (direct import) without a license:
Inventor
SolidWorks
NX
SolidEdge
For information about file formats and extensions, see Working with other CAD systems.
File formats and encodings
The following table documents which encodings are used for strings in various native and external file types.
Key:
Format: File format type
Ext.: File extension for this file format
Additional information: Special notes that apply for this format
Module: Application module in which this file format is used/supported
Pre-2007 encoding: Encoding used in CoCreate Modeling 2006 (and earlier) for strings in files of this file format
Current encoding (read): Supported string encodings in Creo Elements/Direct Modeling for this format when reading files
Current encoding (write): String encoding used in Creo Elements/Direct Modeling when writing files of the given type
Current encoding (backwards): String encoding used in Creo Elements/Direct Modeling when writing files of the given type in backwards-compatible mode, i.e. in CoCreate Modeling 2006 format
Nr
Format
Ext.
Additional information
Module
Pre-2007 encoding
Current encoding (read)
Current encoding (write)
Current encoding (backwards)
1
(:bundle)
.bdl
Creo Elements/Direct Annotation
Roman8/SJIS
Roman8, SJIS, UTF8(2D), UTF16(3D)
UTF-8 for 2D, UTF-16 for 3D
Roman8, SJIS
2
(:drawing)
Creo Elements/Direct Annotation
Roman8/SJIS
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-8
UTF-8
Roman8, SJIS
3
(:package)
.pkg
Roman8/SJIS
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-16
UTF-16
Roman8, SJIS
4
(:soliddesigner)
.sd*
Backwards-compatible mode: File and parcel names are "cooked"
Roman8/SJIS
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-16
UTF-16
Roman8, SJIS
5
(:session)
.ses
Roman8/SJIS
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-16
UTF-16
n/a
6
(:environment)
.env
Roman8/SJIS
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-16
UTF-16
n/a
7
(:sheet)
.mi
Creo Elements/Direct Annotation
Roman8,SJIS
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-8
UTF-8
n/a
8
(:sketch)
Creo Elements/Direct Annotation
Roman8,SJIS
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-8
UTF-8
n/a
9
(:frame)
Creo Elements/Direct Annotation
Roman8,SJIS
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-8
UTF-8
n/a
10
(:any_2d)
.mi
Import 2D
Creo Elements/Direct Annotation
Roman8/SJIS
Roman8,SJIS,UTF-8
n/a
n/a
11
(:ext_mi)
External MI file (old layout files)
Creo Elements/Direct Annotation
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
12
(:hatches)
.hat
Creo Elements/Direct Annotation
Roman8,SJIS
n/a
n/a
n/a
13
(:dim-settings)
.dms
Creo Elements/Direct Annotation
Roman8,SJIS
n/a
n/a
n/a
14
(:dim-fix)
.fix
Creo Elements/Direct Annotation
Roman8,SJIS
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-16
UTF-16
n/a
15
(:dim-tol)
.tol
Creo Elements/Direct Annotation
Roman8,SJIS
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-16
UTF-16
n/a
16
(:plotters)
.plt
Creo Elements/Direct Annotation
Roman8,SJIS
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-16
UTF-16
n/a
17
(:pens)
.pen
Creo Elements/Direct Annotation
Roman8,SJIS
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-16
UTF-16
n/a
18
(:sdexp)
.sdexp
Created by Creo Elements/Direct Model Manager
ISO/SJIS
ISO/SJIS/UTF-8
n/a
n/a
19
(:pixel)
Creo Elements/Direct Annotation
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
20
(:dxf)
.dxf
Creo Elements/Direct Annotation
Roman8,SJIS
Roman8,SJIS,UTF-8
UTF-8
Roman8,SJIS
21
(:dwg)
.dwg
Creo Elements/Direct Annotation
Roman8,SJIS
Roman8,SJIS,UTF-8
UTF-8
Roman8,SJIS
22
(:2d-iges)
.igs, .iges
Creo Elements/Direct Annotation
Roman8,SJIS
Roman8,SJIS,UTF-8
Roman8,SJIS
Roman8,SJIS
23
(:ascii)
.txt
Creo Elements/Direct Annotation
Roman8,SJIS
Roman8,SJIS,UTF-8
UTF-16
n/a
24
(:igesdek)
.igs, .iges
Windows
Windows
n/a
25
(:step)
.stp, .step, .STP, .STEP
ISO/SJIS
ISO/SJIS
ISO/SJIS
n/a
26
(:acis_sat)
.sat
Windows
Windows
n/a
27
(:sat)
.sat
Old SAT converter
ASCII
n/a
ASCII
n/a
28
(:stereolithography)
.stl
ASCII
ASCII
n/a
29
(:vrml)
wrl
Roman8/ISO (VRML 1), UTF-8 (VRML 2)
n/a
Roman8/ISO (VRML 1), UTF-8 (VRML 2)
n/a
30
(:xvl)
.xv3
precise-xvl
Roman8/SJIS in ANF file
n/a
Windows
n/a
31
(:v_xvl)
.xv2
visual-xvl
Roman8/SJIS in ANF file
n/a
Windows
n/a
32
(:catia)
.model
ISO/SJI
ISO/SJIS
Windows
n/a
33
(:catia_expert)
.anf-catia / .anf
ISO/SJIS
ISO/SJIS
Windows
n/a
35
(:ideas)
.anf-ideas / .anf
ISO/SJIS
ISO/SJIS
Windows
n/a
36
(:pro_engineer)
.anf-proe / .anf
ISO/SJIS
ISO/SJIS
Windows
n/a
37
(:ug_expert)7
.anf-ug / .anf
ISO/SJIS
ISO/SJIS
Windows
n/a
38
(:parasolid_solidedge)
.x_t
ISO/SJIS
ISO/SJIS
Windows
n/a
39
(:parasolid_unigraphics)
.xmt_txt, .x_t
ISO/SJIS
ISO/SJIS
Windows
n/a
40
(:parasolid_solidworks)
.x_t, .x_b
ISO/SJIS
ISO/SJIS
Windows
n/a
41
(:mechanica)
Roman8/SJIS
n/a
Roman8/SJIS
n/a
42
(:me30)
Roman8/SJIS
Roman8/SJIS
n/a
n/a
43
(:mi)
.mi
Roman8/SJIS
Roman8/SJIS/UTF-8
n/a
n/a
44
(:mi_out)
.mi
Roman8/SJIS
n/a
UTF-8
45
(:sd_any_2d)
.mi
46
(:recorder)
.rec
Roman8/SJIS
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-8, UTF-16
UTF-8
n/a
47
(:lisp)
.lsp, .lisp
Roman8/SJIS
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-8, UTF-16
n/a
n/a
48
(:lisp-compiled)
Roman8/SJIS (dlsp data)
UTF-16 (dlsp data)
UTF-16
n/a
49
(:macro)
Creo Elements/Direct Annotation
50
(:html)
.html
51
(:bmp)
.bmp
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
52
(:animation)
.avi
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
53
(:edrawings3d)
.easm
54
(:edrawings2d)
.edrw
55
(:xml)
.xml
N/A
UTF-8
n/a
56
Design Info Reports
.html
UTF-8
n/a
UTF-8
n/a
57
U3D
.u3d
U3D
UTF-8
UTF-8
UTF-8
UTF-8
58
xxx_avail_cmds.cmd
.cmd
Roman8, SJIS
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-8, UTF-16
UTF-16
n/a
59
Toolbar files
.tlb
Roman8, SJIS
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-8, UTF-16
UTF-16
n/a
60
Menubar files
.mub
Roman8, SJIS
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-8, UTF-16
UTF-16
n/a
61
Popup menu files
.pum
Roman8, SJIS
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-8, UTF-16
UTF-16
n/a
62
all_mouse_defs.lsp
.lsp
Roman8
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-8, UTF-16
n/a
n/a
63
Keyboard shortcuts
.acc
Roman8
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-8, UTF-16
UTF-16
n/a
64
xxx_ui_layout.def
.def
Roman8
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-8, UTF-16
UTF-16
n/a
65
PDS files
.lsp
Roman8/SJIS
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-8, UTF-16
UTF-16
n/a
66
Module definition file
.dat
Roman8/SJIS
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-8, UTF-16
n/a
n/a
67
all_filer_project_dirs
Roman8/SJIS
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-8, UTF-16
UTF-16
n/a
68
all_load_save_file_types.dat
.dat
Roman8/SJIS
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-8, UTF-16
n/a
n/a
69
Browser views
.lsp
Roman8/SJIS
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-8, UTF-16
UTF-16
n/a
70
Browser queries
.lsp
Roman8/SJIS
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-8, UTF-16
UTF-16
n/a
71
Default_Settings\am_*.lsp
.lsp
Default Settings
Creo Elements/Direct Annotation
n/a
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-8, UTF-16
UTF-16
n/a
72
HyperFact Technical Data
.hyf
Roman8/SJIS
UTF-8
n/a
73
HyperMill Technical Data
.hym
Roman8/SJIS
UTF-8
n/a
74
Generic CAM technical data
.gtc
Roman8/SJIS
UTF-8
n/a
75
Sheetmetal Cost File
.txt
Sheetmetal
Roman8/SJIS
UTF-8
n/a
76
Sheetmetal Flat Text File
.txt
Sheetmetal
Roman8/SJIS
UTF-8
n/a
77
Sheetmetal Flat mi
.mi
Sheetmetal
Roman8/SJIS
UTF-8
n/a
78
Sheetmetal Multi-Unfold Report
.html
Sheetmetal
Roman8/SJIS
UTF-8
n/a
79
sha_costmodel
.lsp
Templates in UTF-8
Sheetmetal
Roman8/SJIS
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-8, UTF-16
UTF-8
n/a
80
sha_demoshop
.lsp
Templates in UTF-8
Sheetmetal
Roman8
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-8, UTF-16
UTF-8
n/a
81
sha_demoshop_func
.lsp
Templates in UTF-8
Sheetmetal
Roman8/SJIS
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-8, UTF-16
UTF-8
n/a
82
sha_shopstable
.lsp
Templates in UTF-8
Sheetmetal
Roman8/SJIS
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-8, UTF-16
UTF-8
n/a
83
sha_customize
(LISP without ext.)
Templates in UTF-8
Sheetmetal
Roman8
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-8, UTF-16
UTF-8
n/a
84
Sha_replacement_initialize
.asc (Drafting macro)
Sheetmetal
Roman8
Roman8, SJIS, UTF-8
UTF-8 /Drafting macro
n/a
85
Creo Elements/Direct Cabling module ECAD data exchange
.ecad
Creo Elements/Direct Cabling
n/a
86
Creo Elements/Direct Cabling module catalog config
.ccf
Used to configure library components
Creo Elements/Direct Cabling
n/a
87
Creo Elements/Direct Cabling module connector file
.con
Define connector properties
Creo Elements/Direct Cabling
n/a
88
Creo Elements/Direct Cabling module definition files
.txt
Used in various library components such as fasteners, clamp...
Creo Elements/Direct Cabling
n/a
89
Inspection
.csv
Inspection
Roman8/SJIS
Roman8/SJIS
Roman8/SJIS
n/a
90
DB description files
as written by sd_write_db_description
UTF-8