A construction project runs on many different software tools — one team in Revit, another in Tekla, another in ArchiCAD or Allplan. So how do they share a single coordinated model without everyone being forced onto the same software? The answer is IFC, and the philosophy around it is called openBIM.
What IFC is
IFC stands for Industry Foundation Classes. It’s an open, vendor-neutral file format and data schema developed by buildingSMART International for exchanging BIM data between different applications. Crucially, it’s not controlled by any single software vendor — unlike proprietary formats such as Revit’s .rvt or ArchiCAD’s .pln — and it’s registered as an official international standard, ISO 16739.
It helps to think of IFC as more than an export format. It’s a schema — a structured way to describe a building’s elements and their properties — a kind of standardized storage system for the digital data of the built environment. A wall exported to IFC carries not just its shape but its identity and properties, so the receiving software understands what it is.
What openBIM is
openBIM isn’t software or a platform — it’s a philosophy: a movement toward using open standards like IFC so that tools from different vendors can exchange information completely and accurately, without anyone being locked in. The principle is that you should be free to choose the best tool for your discipline and still collaborate seamlessly. Open standards also mean the data stays accessible and understandable far into the future, which matters when a building outlives the software that designed it.
IFC isn’t the only piece
IFC is the best-known part of the openBIM ecosystem, but buildingSMART maintains complementary standards too. Two worth knowing:
- BCF (BIM Collaboration Format) — a standard way to communicate issues and comments about a model. A reviewer can flag a problem in a specific view and share it with the responsible team, regardless of which software each side uses. Think of it as review comments for a 3D model.
- IDS (Information Delivery Specification) — a computer-readable way to define and check information requirements, so you can verify that a delivered model actually contains the data it’s supposed to.
Why it matters in practice
Without an open exchange, sharing a model between two different programs means lost data, manual rework, or forcing everyone onto one vendor’s tools. IFC and openBIM solve that without replacing the software each team prefers. For owners, it also protects the long-term value of project data — the model can be opened and trusted years later, on whatever software exists then.
One practical tip: IFC has versions (IFC2x3 and IFC4 are common, with newer releases extending into infrastructure), and software support is certified by buildingSMART. When exchanging models, agree the IFC version and the model view up front so both sides know what’s being delivered.
Part of our BIM fundamentals series. Next: ISO 19650 explained — the standards behind BIM project delivery.