BIM Collaboration Format (BCF)
Also: BCF-XML, BCF-API, bcfzip
Quick definition: An open buildingSMART standard for exchanging model-based issues — comments, viewpoints and the affected elements — between BIM tools without exchanging the models themselves.
Explanation
Beginner explanation
BCF is like a sticky note attached to a spot in the model. A reviewer marks a problem, takes a snapshot, and the designer opens the same note in their own software, which jumps straight to the right place.
Technical explanation
A BCF topic stores the issue as XML with a viewpoint (camera position and snapshot) and references to affected elements by their IFC GUIDs. BCF can be exchanged as files (BCF-XML, packaged as .bcfzip and passed back and forth) or through a web service (BCF-API), which lets applications synchronise issues with a shared server. Development began in 2009 and the standard is maintained by buildingSMART.
Practical example
During MEP coordination, a clash group is exported as BCF topics assigned to the plumbing contractor. The contractor opens them in its authoring tool, fixes the routing and closes the topics; the coordinator sees the status update through the BCF-API connection.
Why it matters
BCF keeps coordination issues traceable across different software and preserves a record of what was raised, by whom and how it was resolved.
Standards and references
- BIM Collaboration Format (BCF). buildingSMART International.Widely accepted professional interpretation
Supports: BCF description, XML topics with viewpoints and IFC GUIDs, BCF-XML vs BCF-API, development from 2009
VDC Stack.io writes its own explanations and does not reproduce copyrighted standards text. Consult the cited standard for normative wording.
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VDC Stack.io. (2026). BIM Collaboration Format (BCF). In VDC Stack.io Knowledge Dictionary. Retrieved from https://vdcstack.io/dictionary/bim-collaboration-format/