CATDRAWING File

What are CATDRAWING files and how to open them

Are you having problems opening a CATDRAWING file or are you simply curious about its contents? We're here to explain the properties of these files and provide you with software that can open or handle your CATDRAWING files.

What is a CATDRAWING file?

A .CATDRAWING file is a CATIA Drawing file.

CATIA Drawing files store two-dimensional technical drawings generated from three-dimensional CAD models built with Dassault Systèmes' CATIA V5 software. These drawing documents capture detailed engineering information such as views, sections, dimensions, and annotations, and maintain associative links back to the original 3D geometry so that changes in the 3D part or assembly automatically update the drawing.

These files are created by CATIA V5's Drafting workbench, which designers use to produce manufacturing documentation from parts (.catpart) or assemblies (.catproduct). A drawing usually comprises one or more sheets, each containing several views such as front, section, detail or auxiliary, together with tables (including bill of materials), tolerances, title-block data, and annotation. The drawings adhere to international or company standards (for example ISO, ANSI, JIS, ASME), which control appearance of line types, dimension formats and graphical styles. CATIA V5 supports saving or exporting these drawings into external formats such as DXF, DWG, PDF, SVG and others.

The format is proprietary binary, version-locked to particular CATIA V5 releases (a file saved in a newer release may not open in older releases). It always requires the corresponding 3D-part or product files to resolve its geometry: without those, the drawing cannot update correctly or may fail to open.

Files begin with the ASCII signature "V5_CFV2\0" at byte offset 0, followed after that by "CATDrwCont" as part of internal identifiers that help applications recognise the drawing format.

How to open CATDRAWING files

Important: Different programs may use files with the CATDRAWING file extension for different purposes, so unless you are sure which format your CATDRAWING file is, you may need to try a few different programs.

While we have not verified the app ourselves yet, our users have suggested a single CATDRAWING opener which you will find listed below.

Last updated: August 31, 2026

Various apps that use files with this extension

These apps are known to open certain types of CATDRAWING files. Remember, different programs may use CATDRAWING files for different purposes, so you may need to try out a few of them to be able to open your specific file.

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File.org helps thousands of users every day, and we would love to hear from you if you have additional information about CATDRAWING file formats, example files, or compatible programs. Please use the links below or email us at submit@file.org to discuss further.