The Initial Graphics Exchange Specification (IGES) is a vendor-neutral file format that allows the digital exchange of information among computer-aided design (CAD) systems. It is an ASCII-based textual format.[1]: 59
The official title of IGES is Digital Representation for Communication of Product Definition Data, first published in March, 1980 by the U.S. National Bureau of Standards as NBSIR 80-1978.[2] Many documents (like early versions of the Defense Standards MIL-PRF-28000[3] and MIL-STD-1840[4]) referred to it as ASME Y14.26M, the designation of the ANSI committee that approved IGES Version 1.0.
Using IGES, a CAD user can exchange product data models in the form of circuit diagrams, wireframe, freeform surface, boundary (B-rep) or solid modeling (CSG) representations. Applications supported by IGES include traditional engineering drawings, models for analysis, and other manufacturing functions.