Browser-based IFC viewer
Bimlyte is a browser-based IFC viewer: it opens and displays IFC BIM models directly in your web browser, with no desktop software to install.
Review models on Windows, macOS, Linux, an iPad, an Android tablet or a phone — the same tool everywhere, nothing to set up.
How it works
- Open Bimlyte in your browser.
- Load your IFC file from your device.
- View geometry, inspect data and work with BCF issues.
How a browser opens a real BIM model
"It runs in a browser" used to imply a toy. It no longer does, and it is worth knowing why — three browser capabilities do the heavy lifting:
- WebAssembly runs compiled code at near-native speed inside the browser. Bimlyte parses IFC with web-ifc and Fragments from That Open Company, the same open-source engines behind many browser BIM tools — so reading the schema is compiled work, not JavaScript grinding through a text file.
- WebGL draws the geometry using your machine's graphics hardware, which is the same hardware a desktop viewer would use for the same job.
- The Origin Private File System (OPFS) gives the app fast, private storage on your own disk, isolated from other sites. This is what lets a large model live on your device between sessions instead of being re-parsed every time.
What this means for large models
Because the work happens on your machine, practical capacity depends on the browser, model complexity, memory, graphics hardware and storage. Bimlyte has no fixed application file-size cap, but a large federated model can load more slowly or exceed the resources available on a phone or lower-powered computer. Google Chrome on a capable desktop is recommended for larger models.
It also means performance does not depend on your connection or on how busy someone's server is, because neither is involved in drawing the model.
Nothing to install, nothing to administer
The practical wins are mostly about what you no longer have to arrange:
- Runs in modern browsers on Windows, macOS and Linux — no separate build to obtain per platform.
- All key IFC and BCF features on Android and iOS phones and tablets, including the iPad, and on ChromeOS — with nothing to install from an app store.
- No admin rights needed, which matters on a locked-down work machine where installing software is not an option.
- No licence server, no seat management, no IT ticket.
- Nothing to update — every visit loads the current version. It can also be installed to the device and used offline.
Which IFC versions it reads
Bimlyte opens IFC2x3, IFC4 and IFC4x3. That range matters in practice: IFC2x3 dates from 2006 and is still what many established export presets produce, while IFC4 is standardised as ISO 16739-1:2018 and IFC4.3 — covering infrastructure such as roads, bridges and rail — was approved as ISO 16739-1:2024.
Running in the browser keeps your model with you
Browser-based and cloud-based are routinely confused, and they are not the same thing. Bimlyte handles your IFC model on your own device and does not upload it to a server in order to display it.