---
jupyter:
  description: 'Boards from SolidWorks PCB, Cadence Allegro, CADSTAR, Fabmaster, P-CAD, gEDA and Lepton EDA in planex2d:
    px.FromKiCad converts them with KiCad 10''s kicad-cli and reads them like a KiCad board. What each file is and
    what KiCad''s importer takes over.'
---

# Other formats

KiCad 10 imports boards from more programs than this section has examples for. `px.FromKiCad` reads all of them in the
same way. It converts the file with `kicad-cli` and returns the layers as for a KiCad board, the copper named by net
and the drill holes cut out. The sections describe each file format and what KiCad's importer takes over. This page
has no example boards. See [KiCad](kicad.md) and
[PADS](pads.md) for what the result looks like.

## SolidWorks PCB

`px.FromKiCad("board.SWPcbDoc")` reads a board from SolidWorks PCB, formerly PCBWorks. Its format is derived from
Altium's, and KiCad reads it with most of the code of its Altium importer, so what holds for [Altium](altium.md) boards
holds here as well.

## Cadence Allegro

`px.FromKiCad("board.brd")` reads a board from Cadence Allegro, saved in Allegro's binary format. Eagle uses the same
extension for its XML boards, and KiCad tells the two apart by their content. KiCad's importer takes over the board
outline, the copper layers with their routing, the padstacks and vias, the components and the nets. Allegro's design
rules and constraints are only partly imported, flex-circuit stackups are not supported, and some of Allegro's pad
shapes may be approximated.

## CADSTAR

`px.FromKiCad("board.cpa")` reads a board from Zuken's CADSTAR, saved as a PCB archive. KiCad's importer takes over
the board outline, the full copper stackup with its tracks, vias and copper pours, the components with their
footprints, and the nets with their net classes. CADSTAR's template areas may be approximated or simplified, and some
of its advanced constraints are not converted.

## Fabmaster

`px.FromKiCad("board.txt")` reads a Fabmaster file, which may also end in `.fab`. Such a file holds the fabrication
data of a board, with its geometry, its components and its layers, and KiCad assigns the layers automatically. It is
written for manufacturing rather than design, so the connectivity of the schematic is not in it, and the nets are
only as complete as the export that wrote them.

## P-CAD

`px.FromKiCad("board.pcb")` reads a board from P-CAD, a program that Altium acquired and later discontinued. KiCad
reads P-CAD 200x boards saved in the ASCII format, not the binary one, and it does not import P-CAD's design rules.

## gEDA and Lepton EDA

`px.FromKiCad("board.pcb")` also reads a board from gEDA PCB or Lepton EDA, two open-source tools. P-CAD uses the same
extension, and KiCad tells the two apart by their content. KiCad's importer takes over the layers with their routing,
the vias, the components and the net list. gEDA's layer model is simpler than KiCad's, so its layers may not all land
on the KiCad layers one would expect.