Open BIM, made simple.Free browser-based IFC viewer and BCF manager

Yes. Bimlyte is completely free to use, with no paid tiers and no feature limits.

It is also cheap to run, which is the part that usually goes unexplained: because models are processed on your device, there is no backend grinding through other people’s IFC files, and no data being monetised — your files never reach our side to begin with.

This is an independent project born out of a desire to simplify everyday BIM tasks. It’s not a teaser for a paid subscription; it’s a tool built for the AEC community, by a practitioner, to make our daily workflows a bit easier.

Open Bimlyte in your browser, create a new project and load your IFC file — there is nothing to download or install, and no account to create.

Because the model is processed in your browser, you can review IFC files on Windows, macOS, Linux, tablets and phones without a desktop BIM application.

Bimlyte opens IFC2x3, IFC4 and IFC4x3 files. IFC2x3 (2006) is still the most common export format in practice, IFC4 is standardised as ISO 16739-1:2018, and IFC4.3 — which extends the schema to infrastructure such as roads, bridges and rail — was approved by ISO as 16739-1:2024.

The viewer is built on web-ifc and Fragments from That Open Company, the open-source engines behind many browser-based BIM tools, so schema support tracks what those engines support.

Yes. Bimlyte validates IFC models against buildingSMART IDS 1.0 (Information Delivery Specification) files in the browser, with all six facets and every restriction, and passes all 334 official buildingSMART IDS test cases. The model and the IDS file are processed on your device and never uploaded.

The result is a report you can read in the app, see as colours on the 3D model and export to Excel. Bimlyte checks models against IDS files; it does not author or edit them, and creating BCF issues from IDS results is on the roadmap.

Yes, through the open standards IFC and BCF. Bimlyte opens IFC models exported from Revit, Archicad, Tekla and other authoring tools, and exchanges BCF issues with any BCF-compatible software — Solibri, BIMcollab and Archicad natively, Revit and Navisworks through BCF add-ins.

Bimlyte is a standalone browser application, not a plug-in, and does not connect to those programs directly. It does not open native files such as .rvt, .pln or .nwd, so export an IFC file from the authoring tool first.

No. Bimlyte processes IFC and BCF files entirely in your browser, on your device, and no part of the app sends file content to a server.

Files only leave your device if you deliberately choose to share them, for example by sending a .bimlyte package to someone yourself.

Bimlyte processes models entirely in your browser and runs no project-data backend, so there is no server that could store, read or leak your model. Nothing is uploaded, and no account is tied to your files.

This architecture can support workflows in which project files must not be uploaded to a third-party processing service. Whether it satisfies a particular client policy, contractual requirement or device-security standard must still be confirmed by the responsible project or IT team.

Bimlyte is designed around data minimisation: your IFC models and BCF data are processed only on your device and are never sent to us. For that project data, Bimlyte is therefore not a processor and holds nothing that could be stored, transferred or disclosed.

Whether a particular workflow meets your organisation’s data-protection requirements is still for your data-protection officer to confirm. How this website itself handles visitor data is explained in its Privacy Policy.

Bimlyte does not impose a fixed application file-size cap. The practical model size depends on the browser, available memory, graphics hardware, free storage, and model complexity. Google Chrome on a capable desktop is recommended for larger models.

In practice a large federated model will load more slowly on a phone than on a desktop with plenty of RAM. There are no watermarks, no issue caps and no "upgrade to open bigger files" wall.

Yes. Bimlyte is a BCF manager: you can create, edit and organise BCF issues, comments and viewpoints in the browser.

It reads and writes both BCF 2.1 and BCF 3.0, and you can export the same issues to either version — which is also how you convert a file between them. You can generate PDF and Excel reports from your BCF data when you need a shareable summary.

Yes. You can install Bimlyte to your device in one click and carry on working without an internet connection.

This follows directly from the local-first design: because your models are processed on your device rather than on a server, nothing needs a connection once the app is installed.

Yes. Bimlyte includes measurement tools and section planes, so you can check dimensions and cut through the model to inspect what is inside.

Anything you find can be captured on the spot as a BCF issue, with a viewpoint, a marked-up snapshot, a status and a comment thread. Bimlyte does not run automated clash detection — clashes found in a model-checking tool are tracked here rather than discovered here.

Bimlyte projects are stored in your browser on that device, so clearing site data or storage for Bimlyte deletes them. There is no cloud copy for us to restore, because we never receive one.

On an iPhone or iPad, add Bimlyte to the home screen: Safari can clear the stored data of a website you have not used for about a week, and a site added to the home screen is exempt.

Export a .bimlyte package for anything you want to keep. It bundles your models, issues, saved views and settings into one file you can back up or move to another device, optionally protected with a password.

No. You can open Bimlyte and start working without signing up or logging in.

There is no account, no email wall and no trial to activate.

Bimlyte runs in current browsers on Windows, macOS, Linux and ChromeOS, and on Android and iOS phones and tablets, including the iPad — all key features are available on all of them. An up-to-date version of Google Chrome on desktop is recommended for the largest models; interface space and practical model size vary by device.

It relies on current browser capabilities — WebAssembly to read IFC, WebGL for the 3D view, and the Origin Private File System to handle large files on disk — so a browser kept up to date gives the smoothest experience.

A .bimlyte file is a single package that bundles your IFC models, BCF issues, saved views and viewer settings, together with project documents, IDS files and validation reports.

You can optionally protect it with a password and share it with someone who doesn't have BIM software — they open it in the browser.

Yes. Bimlyte exports BCF issues to Excel spreadsheets and PDF reports, and you choose exactly which fields go in — standard BCF attributes as well as any custom ones.

The Excel export can split the workbook into sheets grouped by a field such as status or type, and can turn attribute cells into drop-down lists so a recipient picks a value instead of typing it. Both exports are generated in your browser.

No. Bimlyte does not process your files with AI in any way: they are read only by the application’s own code, running on your device, in your browser.

Not in real time yet. Bimlyte is local-first: each project lives on your device, and you share work by handing someone a .bimlyte package or a standard BCF file — which they can open with no software and no account. Collaboration features are on the roadmap.

If your team is getting value out of the app and you'd like to help shape where collaboration goes, we'd love to hear from you at contact@bimlyte.com.

No. Bimlyte is free to use, but its source code is not public. It is built on open-source components — web-ifc and That Open Engine for IFC, Three.js for the 3D view — and their licence notices are published inside the app.

Bimlyte is an independent project built by a BIM practitioner for the AEC community, and feedback from users shapes what gets built next.