Converting Archicad (.pln) to IFC without install Archicad

[Trung Tran]

Hello Graphisoft Team / Community,

I currently have Archicad project files (.pln), and I need to convert them to IFC format. However, I do not have Archicad installed locally, and at the moment the only confirmed option we see is running Archicad inside a Virtual Machine.

Before proceeding with that approach, I would like to ask:

1. Is there any official solution, API, or automation tool provided by Graphisoft that allows conversion of Archicad files (.pln) to IFC without running Archicad in a VM?

2. Are there any supported cloud or server-side workflows (e.g., Developer Hub, C++/Python API, or third-party services) that could handle this conversion?

3. If not available today, are there any upcoming plans for Graphisoft to provide such functionality?

Any guidance, references, or confirmation from Graphisoft would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much for your support.

[anna rmnv]

Such a "converter" doesn't seem feasible - because of the nature of IFC format. IFC is a data exchange format, and you can export very different IFCs from same PLN - it all depends on what data you want to be included. Asking for a converter is kind of like asking to convert a PLN to PDF... I guess it's possible but doesn't make a lot of sense. 

[Trung Tran]

Hello Anna,

Thank you very much for your response and explanation.

I understand that IFC export depends on the data and settings, and that a one-size-fits-all converter may not make sense.

I just wanted to clarify if there is any cloud-based solution (for example, running an Archicad Add-On on the cloud) that would allow exporting a PLN file to the default IFC format, without needing to run Archicad locally or in a VM.

Any guidance or references on such possibilities would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you again for your support.

[anna rmnv]

There's nothing like that available. Personally I don't think it can be expected in the future because I don't see a clear use-case for such a tool, but I might be wrong. Which brings the question: what's your use case, what are you trying to achieve with this solution? Maybe there are alternative ways 🙂

[Victor_Tatrai]

Hey @Trung Tran ,

Not possible!
I used to get that question a lot in the past, especially from Revit users who wanted to create BIMx models (and also IFC files) from Archicad files without purchasing a license. 

I agree with @anna rmnv that this might never be possible.