DWG 3.0 will likely open DWG 2.0 files (automatic up-conversion), but saving a DWG 3.0 file back to DWG 2018 format will strip all intelligence. It becomes "dumb" vector geometry again.
For over four decades, the .dwg file format has been the unquestioned king of the AEC (Architecture, Engineering, and Construction) world. It started as a simple, proprietary binary file for a desktop program called AutoCAD (Release 1.0 in 1982). If that original format were DWG 1.0 , it represented the "Digitization of Paper"—taking a drafting board and making it a screen. dwg 3.0
| Feature | DWG 2.0 | IFC 5 (Open) | | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Speed | Fast (Binary) | Slow (Text-based) | Very Fast (Mixed Kernel) | | Intelligence | Low | High | Very High (Behavioral) | | Collaboration | Manual Xref | Federated | Live Sync (Real-time) | | Offline Use | Full | Limited | Partial (Cached) | It started as a simple, proprietary binary file
