What File Formats 3D Floor Plans Are Delivered In
Most 3D floor plans are delivered as JPG for web and syndication, PNG when a transparent background is needed, and PDF for print and leasing collateral. SVG is worth requesting only when the plan will carry interactive hotspots. Source files are a separate negotiation and matter mainly to portfolio owners who expect to change vendors. Name your destinations before production and the exports come off one source; ask afterward and each one becomes a request.
Format questions look trivial and cause a surprising amount of rework, usually because the destination list was incomplete at the start.
Here is what each format is actually for on a 3D floor plan project.
The format matrix
| Format | Technical constraint | When it is the right call |
|---|---|---|
| JPG | Lossy, no transparency, small file. Text and thin dimension lines degrade if it is over compressed or resized down repeatedly. | The default for website listings and syndication feeds. Request it at the size the destination actually displays, not at maximum. |
| PNG | Lossless with transparency, considerably heavier than JPG. A large PNG on a listing page is a page weight problem. | When the plan sits on a colored background, inside a brochure layout, or gets composited into other marketing. |
| Vector page container, prints predictably, and holds the drawing at a stated scale. Not what a website wants. | Print collateral, leasing office boards, tour packets and anything a broker will email as a document. | |
| SVG | Vector, scales without loss, and individual regions can be targeted by a script. Only useful if the drawing was built with that in mind. | When the plan will become clickable, with units or rooms as hotspots. Decide this before production, not after. |
| Source files | Vendor specific and only usable by someone with the same tooling. Holding them does not by itself guarantee continuity. | Portfolio owners who intend to change vendors or bring work in house. Negotiate it at commission, not at the end. |
Resolution is the part people get wrong
The usual mistake is a single very large export used everywhere. It slows the listing page, gets resized inconsistently by whatever platform receives it, and turns clean dimension text into mush.
Ask instead for a small set of exports sized to the destinations: a listing size, a full width or lightbox size, and a print PDF. That is three files, not one giant one, and each is right where it lands.
Syndication feeds deserve a specific check. Several platforms recompress and crop what you send. Test one plan through the feed before the whole set goes out.
If you are not sure which destinations you have, tell us where the drawing will appear and we will specify the export set for you.
What to write into the scope
List destinations, not formats. A vendor who knows the drawing goes to a website, a feed, a print brochure and a lobby board will produce a better export set than one handed an abstract format list.
Agree the file naming at the same time. Exports named after the plan identifier in your system of record stay findable in two years. Exports named final_v3_new do not.
Related reading: revision structure is the other thing worth fixing in the scope, scaling across a unit mix covers naming at portfolio scale, and the format question lands differently for home builders and senior living communities.
What we deliver
We deliver web sized JPG, a full size JPG, and a print PDF as standard, with PNG where transparency is needed and SVG when the plan is being built for interaction. Exports are named after the plan identifier you give us. Source file handover is available and is agreed at commission rather than treated as a surprise at the end.
Tell us where your plans need to appear and we will come back with the export set, the naming convention and a price.