Editing AutoCAD DXF (section)

== Compatibility ==
Versions of AutoCAD from Release 10 (October 1988) and up support both American Standard Code for Information Interchange ([[ASCII]]) and [[Binary file|binary]] forms of DXF.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Schoonmaker|first=Stephen J.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/54090798|title=The CAD guidebook: a basic manual for understanding and improving computer-aided design|date=2003|publisher=Marcel Dekker|isbn=0-8247-4569-8|location=New York|oclc=54090798}}</ref>{{Rp|page=59}} Earlier versions support only ASCII.

As AutoCAD has become more powerful, supporting more complex object types, DXF has become less useful. Certain object types, including [[ACIS]] solids and regions, are not documented. Other object types, including AutoCAD 2006's dynamic blocks, and all of the objects specific to the [[vertical market]] versions of AutoCAD, are partially documented, but not well enough to allow other developers to support them. For these reasons many CAD applications use the [[.dwg|DWG format]] which can be licensed from Autodesk or non-natively from the [[Open Design Alliance]].

DXF files do not directly specify the units of measurement used for its coordinates and dimensions. DXF files have a HEADER section where a $INSUNITS variable may specify the intended unit (e.g., 1 for inches, 4 for millimeters). However, not all DXF files contain this information, and some software ignores it.

Most CAD systems and many vector graphics packages support the import and export of DXF files, notably [[Adobe Inc.|Adobe]] products, [[Inkscape]], and [[Blender (software)|Blender]]. Some CAD systems use DXF as their native format, notably [[QCAD]] and [[LibreCAD]].