DirectX File Format

This document specifies the file format introduced with Microsoft® DirectX® 2. A binary version of this format was subsequently released with DirectX 3, which is also detailed in this reference.

The DirectX file format provides a rich template-driven file format that enables the storage of meshes, textures, animations, and user-definable objects. Support for animation sets allows predefined paths to be stored for playback in real time. Instancing and hierarchies are also supported. Instancing allows multiple references to an object, such as a mesh, while storing its data only once per file. Hierarchies are used to express relationships between data records. The DirectX file format is used natively by the Microsoft® Direct3D® Retained Mode API, providing support for reading predefined objects into an application or writing mesh information constructed by the application in real time.

The DirectX file format provides low-level data primitives, upon which applications define higher-level primitives through templates. This is the method by which Direct3D defines higher-level primitives such as vectors, meshes, matrices and colors.

This document details the API-independent features of the file format and also the method by which Direct3D Retained Mode uses the file format. It includes the following topics:

• DirectX File Format Architecture
• Appendix A: Templates
• Appendix B: Example
• Appendix C: Binary Format
• Appendix D: The Conv3ds.exe Utility

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