A PRC file is a sequential binary file, written in a portable way.
It is optimized to store, load, and display various kinds of 3D data, especially coming from computer aided design (CAD) systems.
Most of the main constructs of CAD systems are supported by the PRC format:
Assemblies and parts
Trees of 3D entities (coordinate systems, wireframes, surfaces, and solids)
Exact geometry representation
Tessellated (triangulated) representation
Markup
PRC is meant to be multipurpose. Depending on the usage of the file and on the original information, there are two ways to store exact geometry and tessellation:
Regular compression is used to directly represent CAD data without loss or transformation from the originating CAD system.
High compression is used to store very small files, which have a specified physical tolerance from the originating shape. The tolerance is typically 0.001 mm for exact geometry and 0.01 mm for tessellation.
The following describe the PRC format and entities:
Main PRC entities provides an overview of the basic entities supported by the PRC format.
