DWG specification document for parsing a DWG file?

Question

I am extending the Apache Tika parser for DWG files so that I can parse text out of DWG files.

Currently someone else has written some basic metadata parsing which is great. But the newer versions of DWG are not yet supported.

I would like to add that support, and extend what is possible to parse.

I read around online and the Spec for DWG file format is proprietary as far as I can tell, so does that mean there is no open specification document?

Any help anyone can contribute to help me parse DWG files would be appreciated!

It is what proprietary means! Sort of defeats purpose if you publish a spec on it. — StainlessSteelRat, Jan 09 '21 at 05:14
@nicholas-dipiazza Did you succeed in your task of creating a parser for DWG? I need the same. Can we collaborate? — afrish, Mar 17 '21 at 20:31

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 09 '21 at 20:22

While DWG files are a proprietary binary format by Autodesk, they gave some visibility at some point to the Open DesignAlliance and allowed them to make an open spec.

It's not perfect. You'll see situations where they weren't given enough information to prefect define something... such as:

We have occasionally seen other values here but their meaning (and importance) is unclear.

But it's better than nothing!

1 Answers1