AIGraph Blog


The history of DWG file format

  Sep 26, 2015

DWG is a binary file format used for storing two- and three- dimensional design data and meta data. It is the native format for several CAD packages including DraftSight, AutoCAD, IntelliCAD (and its variants) and Caddie.

Version history

Version Internal version AutoCAD versions
DWG R1.0 MC0.0 AutoCAD Release 1.0
DWG R1.2 AC1.2 AutoCAD Release 1.2
DWG R1.40 AC1.40 AutoCAD Release 1.40
DWG R2.05 AC1.50 AutoCAD Release 2.05
DWG R2.10 AC2.10 AutoCAD Release 2.10
DWG R2.21 AC2.21 AutoCAD Release 2.21
DWG R2.22 AC1001, AC2.22 AutoCAD Release 2.22
DWG R2.50 AC1002 AutoCAD Release 2.50
DWG R2.60 AC1003 AutoCAD Release 2.60
DWG R9 AC1004 AutoCAD Release 9
DWG R10 AC1006 AutoCAD Release 10
DWG R11/12 AC1009 AutoCAD Release 11, AutoCAD Release 12
DWG R13 AC1012 AutoCAD Release 13
DWG R14 AC1014 AutoCAD Release 14
DWG 2000 AC1015 AutoCAD 2000, AutoCAD 2000i, AutoCAD 2002
DWG 2004 AC1018 AutoCAD 2004, AutoCAD 2005, AutoCAD 2006
DWG 2007 AC1021 AutoCAD 2007, AutoCAD 2008, AutoCAD 2009
DWG 2010 AC1024 AutoCAD 2010, AutoCAD 2011, AutoCAD 2012
DWG 2013 AC1027 AutoCAD 2013, AutoCAD 2014, AutoCAD 2015

In 2006, Autodesk applied for registration of US trademarks on “DWG”, “DWG EXTREME”, “DWG TRUECONVERT”, “REALDWG”, “DWGX”, “DWG TRUEVIEW”. As early as 1996, Autodesk has disclaimed exclusive use of the DWG mark in US trademark filings. Out of these applications, only TRUSTEDDWG has been registered as a trademark by the USPTO.

In June, 2011 the USPTO issued a final refusal to register DWG as a trademark owned by Autodesk.