Why is this a structural preview instead of a board render?

ODB++ describes board geometry with its own feature syntax (lines, arcs, surfaces with up to thousands of dictionary-encoded symbols per layer). Writing a complete renderer is multi-day work; for now we surface the design tree so you can confirm the archive is well-formed and see how many layers / steps it contains.

My file is a .tgz — why can't I see the tree?

Browser JS can decompress gzip but we'd also need a tar parser to walk the archive. The simplest fix is to repack the design as a .zip — most ODB++ exporters (Valor, Allegro, Altium) can write either container.

What is the 'profile' file?

Each step has a `profile` file that defines its board outline as a polyline / arc sequence. We parse the coordinates and report a bounding box so you can see the board's physical extents straight from the metadata, with no rendering required.

Can I extract individual layers as Gerber?

Not from this viewer. If you need Gerber, re-export from the originating EDA tool — its ODB++ → Gerber pipeline will match the fab house's expectations more reliably than any in-browser conversion.

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Open ODB++ files

PCB design exchange archive (Valor / Siemens).

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About ODB++

PCB design exchange archive (Valor / Siemens).

ODB++ is a zipped folder of PCB layer descriptions used to hand a complete board between EDA tools and a fab house. We unzip the archive and surface the step / layer tree along with the board outline bounds parsed from each step's profile file, plus the size of each layer's feature file. We do not render feature-level geometry — for a pixel-accurate board view, export the design as Gerber + Excellon and open the resulting fab package in the Gerber viewer.

FAQ

Why is this a structural preview instead of a board render?: ODB++ describes board geometry with its own feature syntax (lines, arcs, surfaces with up to thousands of dictionary-encoded symbols per layer). Writing a complete renderer is multi-day work; for now we surface the design tree so you can confirm the archive is well-formed and see how many layers / steps it contains.
My file is a .tgz — why can't I see the tree?: Browser JS can decompress gzip but we'd also need a tar parser to walk the archive. The simplest fix is to repack the design as a .zip — most ODB++ exporters (Valor, Allegro, Altium) can write either container.
What is the 'profile' file?: Each step has a `profile` file that defines its board outline as a polyline / arc sequence. We parse the coordinates and report a bounding box so you can see the board's physical extents straight from the metadata, with no rendering required.
Can I extract individual layers as Gerber?: Not from this viewer. If you need Gerber, re-export from the originating EDA tool — its ODB++ → Gerber pipeline will match the fab house's expectations more reliably than any in-browser conversion.

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