IFC is the open format that carries a BIM model between applications — and between decades. If a model only opens in the application that created it, it is not an archive; it is a hostage.
In one sentence: IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) is the open data format for exchanging BIM models between applications and organisations — standardised as ISO 16739-1 and maintained by buildingSMART International. The current version is IFC 4.3, and it is the only common language that Revit, ArchiCAD, FreeCAD, Tekla and a dozen viewers all understand.
The path from authoring to archive has four stations. The word most people are missing is MVD — the subset of the schema each delivery uses.
Three things in this diagram matter to whoever is buying:
.ifc file opens in an editor and can be read — every wall is a line
with an identifier, a type and properties. That changes the archive: no licence keys to open
the 2015 building in 2040.A model delivered only in native format is an asset that rots at the speed of the software versions that read it. An IFC kept alongside it is the project’s life insurance: neutral, auditable, independent of the vendor. It is also the format that public procurement in the countries that require BIM requires — and the reason why the Portuguese state, once Decree-Law 10/2024 (DL) enters into force (BIM mandatory in building permitting from 2030), will hardly be able to accept proprietary formats alone.
Almost nobody asks for IFC yet — 0 mentions in 1,059 architecture competition documents (2010–2026) read in full (meta-concurso [measured]). But the legal framework already admits models: the Ministerial Order 255/2023 (Portaria), which governs detailed design in public works, accepts BIM models as submission documents (DR), and DL 10/2024, art. 17 makes BIM mandatory in urban building permitting from 1 January 2030 (DR). Delivering and asking for IFC today is the cheap way to be ready for that day.
A text file that describes an entire building — elements, materials, properties, relationships — in a public format standardised by ISO (16739-1). Any serious BIM tool reads and writes it.
The format is free, with no licences. You lose modelling parametrics and some sheet graphics; you gain longevity and interoperability. Current practice is IFC as the delivery format, natives kept by whoever models.
IFC4 for new buildings; IFC 4.3 when there is infrastructure or product data requirements. IFC 2x3 only when the recipient imposes it out of inertia.
Open it in a text editor — it is text. To see the model and the product data, the readiness meter on this site loads IFC in the browser, with no upload: the file never leaves your computer.
Today, almost nobody (0/1,059 in measured competitions). The legal framework (Ministerial Order 255/2023, DL 10/2024) already points that way; when the obligation arrives, open formats are the only way for the state not to end up captive to a vendor.
The digital product passport readiness meter opens an IFC in the browser — geometry, identifiers, properties, classification — and tells you how far the product data are from what the EU digital product passport will require. No upload, no installation.
Open the meter