CAD interoperability — moving a 3D model between different CAD systems without losing critical design data — is one of the most common and least well-understood problems in professional engineering practice. This free tool lets you pick a source and target CAD system from eight widely-used platforms and instantly see the recommended neutral exchange format, a clear breakdown of which data categories reliably survive the round-trip versus which are commonly lost or degraded, and a short practical tip written for that exact pair — based on real engineering handoff patterns used in automotive, aerospace, and manufacturing supply chains.
Every major MCAD system (SolidWorks, CATIA, Creo, Fusion 360, Inventor, Siemens NX) builds its models around a proprietary parametric feature tree — sketches, extrudes, fillets, patterns, and the design relations between them — stored in a format only that vendor's software can fully interpret. Neutral exchange formats like STEP and IGES only standardize the resulting solid shape (the boundary representation, or B-rep), not the history that produced it. That is why every CAD-to-CAD translation, no matter how good the format or translator, hands over a "dumb" solid with no editable feature tree on the receiving end.
STEP AP214 and the newer AP242 are the default choice for exchanging solid geometry between different MCAD systems — AP242 additionally standardizes how semantic PMI/GD&T annotations can travel with the model, when both systems support it. Parasolid (.x_t/.x_b) is worth using instead of STEP when both systems share the Parasolid kernel (SolidWorks, Siemens NX, and Fusion 360 all do), since it typically re-tessellates fewer complex surfaces. JT is the standard for lightweight visualization and large-assembly review in automotive/aerospace PLM environments, not for CAD-to-CAD authoring round-trips. IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) is the equivalent standard for BIM data — used whenever a Revit model needs to exchange geometry with an MCAD tool or another BIM platform. IGES is an older surface-exchange format still encountered with legacy Class-A surfacing data.
Across virtually every real CAD-to-CAD exchange, the pattern is consistent: solid geometry (the visible shape) survives reliably — that is what neutral formats are built for. Parametric feature history essentially never survives a neutral-format round-trip. Assembly mates and constraints are almost always lost and must be manually rebuilt in the target system. PMI/GD&T annotations are the most variable category — they can survive with modern formats like STEP AP242 and matching import settings, but frequently degrade to disconnected, non-associative text or get dropped entirely. Material properties usually reduce to metadata only (a name or density value), with appearance and simulation-ready material data needing to be reassigned by hand.
Select a source system and a target system from the dropdowns, or click directly on a cell in the 8×8 matrix — each cell is colored by which category of exchange format applies to that pair (a shared Parasolid kernel, general STEP, IFC for BIM, or native DWG/SAT). The result panel updates immediately with the recommended format, a five-row data-risk breakdown (Survives / Degraded / Lost, with a plain-English explanation for each), and a practical tip. Use the ⇄ button to instantly flip source and target and compare both directions of a handoff.
No, not through any standard neutral exchange format (STEP, IGES, Parasolid, JT). Vendor-specific "direct" translators that read a competitor's native file format (e.g. a plugin that opens .sldprt files inside another CAD system) sometimes reconstruct an approximate, re-created feature tree, but this is translator-specific, imperfect, and not the same as the original design intent. The reliable, universal path is a "dumb solid" via a neutral format, followed by rebuilding any parametric behavior you need natively in the target system.
AP214 (Application Protocol 214) is the older, widely-supported STEP revision focused on the core solid geometry, product structure, and configuration data used in automotive design. AP242 is the newer, actively maintained revision that additionally standardizes semantic PMI (machine-readable GD&T tied to specific geometric features) and improved assembly/product-structure representation. Use AP242 whenever both the exporting and importing systems support it, especially if tolerance data needs to travel with the model — fall back to AP214 for maximum compatibility with older software.
JT (an ISO standard, ISO 14306) is optimized for small file size and fast loading of very large assemblies — it is the backbone of visualization inside PLM systems like Siemens Teamcenter, used heavily across automotive and aerospace supply chains for design review, digital mock-up, and supplier collaboration. It typically stores a lighter-weight, faceted or reduced-precision representation rather than a full-precision B-rep, so it should not be used as the format for further CAD editing or manufacturing.
They are related but serve different domains. IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) is actually built on the same underlying data-modeling standard as STEP (ISO 10303 EXPRESS schema language) but defines a schema specific to building/construction: walls, MEP systems, spaces, and building-scale metadata, rather than mechanical parts and assemblies. When a mechanical model (a piece of equipment, a skid, a structural steel component) needs to be coordinated inside a Revit-based building model, IFC is the correct exchange format rather than STEP.