What Is an IFC File?

This article explains what an IFC file is and how to open or convert one.

What Is an IFC File?

A file with the IFC file extension is an Industry Foundation Classes file. The IFC-SPF format is currently developed by buildingSMART and is used by Building Information Modeling (BIM) programs to hold models and designs of facilities and buildings.

The IFC-XML and IFC-ZIP formats are similar, but instead use the .IFCXML and .IFCZIP file extensions to indicate that the file is either XML-structured or ZIP-compressed, respectively. Similar formats exist, too, including ifcJSON, ifcHDF, IFC-Turtle, and IFC-RDF.

How to Open an IFC File

There are several compatible programs: Autodesk's Revit, Adobe Acrobat, FME Desktop, CYPECAD, SketchUp (with the IFC2SKP plug-in), and Graphisoft's Archicad.

IFC Wiki has a list of several other free programs that can open these files.

Since IFC-SPF files are just text documents, they can also be opened with Notepad in Windows, or any other text editor. However, only do this if you want to see the text data that makes up the file; you won't be able to see the 3D design in one of these programs.

IFC-ZIP files are just ZIP-compressed .IFC files, so the same text editor rules apply to them once the file has been extracted from the archive. A file unzip program can open one.

On the other hand, IFC-XML files are XML-based, which means you'll want an XML viewer/editor to see the text in those types of files.

Solibri's IFC Optimizer can open an IFC file, too, but only for the purpose of reducing its file size.

How to Convert an IFC File

You can save an IFC file to several other file formats using IfcOpenShell. It supports converting IFC to OBJ, STP, SVG, XML, DAE, and IGS.

Another way is to convert the IFC file with Filestar. It supports several output formats and runs on Windows and macOS.

See BIMopedia's Creating 3D PDFs from IFC Files if you want to convert it to a PDF using Revit.

Some of the programs from above that can open an IFC file may also be able to convert, export, or save the file to another format.

Still Can't Open It?

The file extension is the first thing you should check if you can't open it using the programs mentioned above. Some file extensions look a lot like other ones, but that doesn't mean the formats are related or that the files can be used by the same software.

ICF is one example. Those letters resemble IFC, but they're actually used as a backup text document for the settings of a Zoom router. In other words, they have nothing at all to do with Industry Foundation Classes files, and so they can't be used with IFC file openers.

If you really have an FIC file, it's used for PC SOFT's WinDev Hyper File Database files.

IFC History

Autodesk started the IFC initiative in 1994 as a way to support integrated application development. Some of the 12 initial companies that joined included Honeywell, Butler Manufacturing, and AT&T.

Industry Alliance for Interoperability opened membership to anyone in 1995 and then changed its name to the International Alliance for Interoperability. The non-profit's intent was to publish the Industry Foundation Class (IFC) as an AEC product model.

The name was changed again in 2005 and is now maintained by buildingSMART.