BIM Collaboration Format (BCF): How It Works, File Structure, and Workflows

BIM Collaboration Format (BCF) is the open standard that lets architects, engineers, and contractors exchange model-based issues — clashes, RFIs, design queries — without sending the entire BIM model back and forth. For teams running multi-discipline coordination on projects in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, understanding how BCF actually works, what it contains, and where it fits inside an ISO 19650 workflow is essential to keeping coordination fast and traceable.

What Is BIM Collaboration Format and Why It Exists

Before BCF existed, resolving a coordination issue between two BIM authoring tools usually meant exporting a full IFC model, sending it to another party, and asking them to hunt through the geometry to find the problem the sender was referring to. That workflow was slow, heavy on file size, and easy to get wrong — the reviewer often had no idea which object, which view, or which angle the original issue was about.

BCF was developed specifically to solve that problem. Instead of transmitting the model itself, a BCF file carries a lightweight package of XML data: a description of the issue, a saved camera viewpoint, a snapshot image, and references to the specific IFC elements involved via their Global Unique Identifiers (GUIDs). The receiving application opens the same underlying model and jumps straight to the exact view and objects the issue concerns.

The format is maintained by buildingSMART International as an open, vendor-neutral standard — meaning it works the same way whether the two parties are using Revit, Navisworks, Solibri, Tekla, or any other IFC-compatible tool.

BCF vs IFC vs BCF API — How They Relate

These three terms get confused constantly, especially by teams new to openBIM. They are not competing standards — they work together, each covering a different layer of the exchange.

In short: IFC is the model, BCF is the conversation about the model, and the BCF API is simply a live-connection version of that same conversation.

Inside a .bcfzip File — Structure Explained

A BCF file (extension .bcfzip) is a standard zip archive with a predictable internal structure. Understanding it helps when troubleshooting import/export issues between platforms.

• bcf.version — a small XML file declaring which version of the BCF schema the file uses.
• One folder per topic — each coordination issue (“topic”) gets its own folder, named with a GUID.
• markup.bcf — inside each topic folder, this XML file holds the issue’s title, description, status, priority, assigned user, creation date, and comment history.
• viewpoint.bcfv — stores the exact camera position, clipping planes, and the list of visible/selected element GUIDs, so the receiving software can reconstruct the same view.
• snapshot.png — a rendered image of that viewpoint, so the issue is visible even before the model reloads.

The Two BIM Collaboration Format Workflows

buildingSMART defines two ways to use BCF, and most confusion in practice comes from mixing them up.

How a BCF Issue Moves Through a Project

1. Identify — a clash, discrepancy, or query is spotted during a coordination review.
2. Create — the reviewer saves a viewpoint, writes a description, and assigns a priority and responsible party.
3. Send — the topic is shared as a file or synced through the BCF server to the relevant discipline.
4. Respond — the assigned party investigates, comments, and updates the model or proposes a resolution.
5. Verify — the original author reviews the fix against the same viewpoint and either closes the topic or reopens it with further comments.

This loop repeats for every open issue until the coordination model is clash-free and all topics are closed — a process closely tied to clash detection and broader BIM coordination workflows.

Software That Supports BCF

Support for BIM Collaboration Format varies by platform — some tools handle both import and export natively, others rely on plug-ins, and support level can differ between the file-based and API versions of the standard.

BCF in Saudi Arabia and UAE BIM Workflows

Public and giga-project mandates across the region increasingly reference ISO 19650 as the information management framework, and BCF is the practical mechanism that makes the coordination and issue-resolution requirements inside that framework workable day to day. On multi-discipline projects run through a common data environment, BCF topics give every stakeholder — client, consultant, and contractor — a shared, timestamped record of who raised an issue, who resolved it, and when it was verified closed, which matters for handover documentation and audits later in the project.

For contractors and consultants working across Saudi and UAE job sites, the practical value is simple: BCF keeps coordination meetings focused on decisions rather than on re-explaining where a clash is located, since everyone opens the same saved viewpoint at the same time.

Common Mistakes When Using BCF

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

BCF solves a problem every multi-discipline BIM project runs into: how to communicate a specific coordination issue clearly, quickly, and without shipping the entire model back and forth. Understanding its file structure, its two workflow modes, and where it sits alongside IFC gives project teams a much sharper coordination process — and on Saudi and UAE projects working under ISO 19650-aligned CDEs, that clarity carries straight through to handover.