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 and PADS 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 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.