Floor plan to DXF
Get a floor plan as a layered AutoCAD DXF your architect can open and keep working in — real metre coordinates, north-up, with the plot, the setbacks, the walls, the door swings and the window symbols each on their own layer. Draw the plan from your plot’s dimensions, or import a photo of one you already have.
What the file contains
Every DXF is written by the same exporter, whichever plan it came from. These are the layers it declares:
| Layer | Line | What is on it |
|---|---|---|
| PLOT | Continuous | Plot boundary and the road edge. |
| SETBACK | Dashed | The buildable box the setbacks leave, dashed. |
| WALL | Continuous | Room outlines, one closed polyline each. |
| DOOR | Continuous | Door leaf line and its quarter-circle swing arc. |
| WINDOW | Continuous | Window symbol — two lines across the wall. |
| TEXT | Continuous | Room names and sizes, floor labels, the disclaimer. |
- AutoCAD R12 ASCII — the most widely readable DXF revision; opens in AutoCAD, LibreCAD, DraftSight, QCAD, BricsCAD and every viewer.
- Metres, 1 unit = 1 m. Nothing to scale on the way in.
- North-up. The plan model’s y grows south; every coordinate is flipped through the plot depth so the file opens compass-correct.
- One floor beside the next in model space, 5 m apart, each under its own floor label.
The same plan, drawn and as CAD
On the left is a live render of Plot2Plan’s sample plan — a 30 × 40 ft east-facing Chennai plot. On the right is the head of the actual DXF that plan exports, generated when this page was built:
0
SECTION
2
HEADER
9
$ACADVER
1
AC1009
0
ENDSEC
0
SECTION
2
TABLES
0
TABLE
2
LTYPE
70
2
0
LTYPE
2
CONTINUOUS
70
0
3
Solid line
72
65
73
0
40
0.0
0
LTYPE
2
DASHED
70
0
3
Dashed line
72
65
73
2
40
0.75
49
0.5
49
-0.25
0
ENDTAB
0
TABLE
2
LAYER
70
6
0
LAYER
2
PLOT
70
0
62
7
6
CONTINUOUS
0
LAYER
2
SETBACK
70
0
62
1
6
DASHED
0
LAYER
2
WALL
70
0
62
7
6
CONTINUOUS
0
LAYER
2
DOOR
70
0
62
2
6
CONTINUOUS
0
LAYER
2
WINDOW
70
0
62
4
6
CONTINUOUS
0
LAYER
2
TEXT
70
0
62
3
6
CONTINUOUS
0
ENDTAB
0
ENDSEC
0
SECTION
2
ENTITIES
0
TEXT
8
TEXT
10
0
20
11.74
30
0
40
0.5
1
PROPOSED RESIDENTIAL BUILDING — 30 FT x 40 FT PLOT, EAST FACING
0
TEXT
8
TEXT
10
0
20
10.74
30
0
40
0.28
1
DRAFT FOR ARCHITECT'S USE — prepared from unverified development-rule data. Not valid for submission until checked, completed and signed by a licensed architect / engineer.
0
POLYLINE
8
PLOTFirst 160 of 2405 lines (about 8.9 KB). The whole file carries 13 room outlines, 12 door swings, 21 window symbols and 30 text labels across 2 floors.
Two ways to get one
- Draw it from the plot. Try with the sample plan — or give the generator your own width, depth, road side and road width. It computes the legal envelope for the plot, lays out a home inside it, checks it against the rules, and the Share menu offers ↓ DXF.
- Import a plan you already have. Photograph or scan the drawing and the importer rebuilds it as an editable plan — which then exports to DXF the same way. It is an approximation of the original, and it says so.
There is also the approval drawing: the same plan laid out as a sanction-style A1 sheet with dimensioned floor plans, a site plan, elevation and section, an area statement and a door/window schedule — exportable as PNG, SVG, print or this same DXF.
A starting document, not a sanctioned drawing
DRAFT FOR ARCHITECT'S USE — prepared from unverified development-rule data. Not valid for submission until checked, completed and signed by a licensed architect / engineer.
The disclaimer above is written into the DXF itself, on the TEXT layer above the drawings, and the approval sheet’s signature boxes stay blank. What a plot may legally carry — setbacks, FSI, height, floor count — comes from the deterministic rule engine, cited to its source; the DXF simply carries whatever the validated plan carried. It is where a licensed architect starts, not something to submit.
Common questions
How do I convert a floor plan to DXF for free?
Give Plot2Plan your plot dimensions and it draws a rule-checked floor plan, or import a photo of a plan you already have. Either way the Share menu has a DXF button: the file downloads straight from your browser, no signup and no upload of the drawing to a converter service.
What is inside the DXF file?
AutoCAD R12 ASCII with 6 layers — PLOT, SETBACK, WALL, DOOR, WINDOW, TEXT. Rooms are closed polylines, doors carry a leaf line and a quarter-circle swing arc, windows the two-line plan symbol, and every room is labelled with its name and size. Each floor sits beside the previous one in model space with a 5 m gap.
What units and orientation does it use?
Real metres, one drawing unit to the metre, so a 30 × 40 ft plot measures 9.14 × 12.19 in model space and dimensions come out right without scaling. The drawing is north-up: the plan model's y axis grows south (screen style) and every coordinate is flipped on the way out, so the file opens compass-correct.
Will it open in AutoCAD, LibreCAD, DraftSight or QCAD?
Yes. R12 ASCII is the deliberate target — it is the most widely readable DXF revision there is, opens in every CAD package including the free ones, and needs no external library to write, so the file is plain group-code text you can inspect yourself.
Is a DXF from here a sanctioned drawing?
No. It is a starting document for a licensed professional — the same disclaimer the approval sheet carries is written into the file itself, and the signature blocks stay blank. An architect or licensed surveyor takes it from here; nothing generated on this site is submittable as it stands.
Can I convert a photo of an old floor plan to DXF?
Yes — import the photo or scan first. The importer reads the rooms and openings out of the drawing and rebuilds them as an editable plan, and that plan exports to DXF like any other. Treat the result as an approximation of the original, never a measurement of it.