Why "opening the file" isn't the same as "getting all the data" — and why that gap has quietly derailed real coordination workflows.
A model saved as a native .rvtfile and the same model exported to IFC will both open, both show geometry, and both look — at a glance — like the same building. That surface-level similarity is exactly what makes the difference dangerous. One of these files is a vendor's complete internal representation of everything the authoring software understands about the model. The other is a deliberately generic, standardized translation built so other software can read it at all. Assuming those two things carry equivalent information is one of the most consequential and least-questioned assumptions in multi-platform BIM coordination.