CDM File

What are CDM files and how to open them

Are you having problems opening a CDM 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 CDM files.

What is a CDM file?

CDM files have multiple uses, and NTI CD Maker image is one of them. Read more about the other uses further down the page.

NTI CD Maker image file

These CDM files contain the disk images created in NTI CD-Maker, a software used to copy and burn CDs. These disk images have data items, entities, association links, and shapes. CDM files also contain information about creators, when it was created, and when it was modified.

How to open CDM files

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

While we have not verified the apps ourselves yet, our users have suggested ten different CDM openers which you will find listed below.

Last updated: August 31, 2026

All known file formats using extension .CDM

While NTI CD Maker image file is a popular type of CDM-file, we know of 2 different uses of the .CDM file extension. Different software may use files with the same extension for different types of data.

PowerDesigner Conceptual Model

PowerDesigner Conceptual Model files capture a high-level map of business data structures, recording things like entities (people, places, concepts), the data items attached to them (attributes), and the relationships linking them. These files are produced by SAP PowerDesigner when creating a Model of type Conceptual Data Model (CDM), such models help in understanding an information system's semantics before getting into technical or implementation details. The CDM serves as the foundation for deriving more detailed Logical or Physical models.

Models are saved in XML format and include both diagram layout and metadata such as names, identifiers, domains, inheritance, and cardinalities, among others. PowerDesigner allows the reuse of data items across entities to enforce consistency. From a CDM file, users can generate Logical Data Models (LDM), Physical Data Models (PDM), or even Object-Oriented Models (OOM), pushing through the level of abstraction toward concrete implementations.

Internally a Conceptual Model file begins with a standard XML declaration followed by a Pragma-like PowerDesigner processing instruction that identifies it as a data model XML with types such as CDM_DATA_MODEL_XML. It contains unique identifiers (GUIDs), metadata like creation and modification dates, object collections (entities, relationships, data items) and attributes defined via nested XML elements like <o:RootObject>, <o:model>, <c:Children>, and attributes such as ObjectID, NAME, DATATYPE, CARDINALITY, ENTITY REF etc.

Various apps that use files with this extension

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

Help us help others

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