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Xfig at a glance
Xfig
Xfig began in 1985 and accumulated decades of maintenance and export tooling, which made the .fig format a durable bridge between interactive diagram editing on Unix systems and downstream conversion to PostScript, PDF, and other outputs.
EMF at a glance
EMF
Microsoft deprecated WMF in favour of EMF due to WMF's issues with device independence. EMF was later extended with EMF+ to support GDI+ drawing operations.
Format comparison
| Feature | Xfig | EMF |
|---|---|---|
| File type | Vector | Vector |
| Extensions |
|
|
| MIME type |
|
|
| Compression / quality | scalable | scalable |
| File size characteristics | small | small |
| Compatibility | moderate | moderate |
| Editability | high | high |
| Created year | 1985 | 1993 |
| Inventor | Supoj Sutanthavibul | Microsoft Corporation |
| Status | legacy | active |
| Transparency | Not supported | Not supported |
| Animation | Not supported | Not supported |
| Primary use cases |
|
|
| Common software |
|
|
| Archival suitability | good | good |
| Metadata handling | moderate | moderate |
| Delivery profile | strong | strong |
| Workflow fit | design | design |
| Layer support | Not supported | Not supported |
| Vector scaling | Supported | Supported |
| Structured data | Supported | Not supported |
When to use each format
When to use Xfig
- illustration
- diagramming
- brand asset delivery
- Preserves object-level editability for technical diagrams.
When to use EMF
- illustration
- diagramming
- brand asset delivery
- Device-independent vector graphics on Windows.
FAQs
Why convert Xfig to EMF?
Choose EMF as target when placing vector graphics into Windows-centric documents, presentations, reporting systems, or print workflows that expect an Office-friendly scalable graphic.
What changes when converting Xfig to EMF?
Convert to EMF when placing vector graphics into Windows-centric documents, presentations, reporting systems, or print workflows that expect an Office-friendly scalable graphic. It is suitable for charts, diagrams, and embedded illustrations in desktop-office environments. For cross-platform web and design exchange, SVG or PDF are often better choices.
What should I review after converting Xfig to EMF?
After conversion, review these destination checks: Open converted output in Microsoft Office and verify behavior on real samples; Compare output against the expected scalable quality profile; Primarily a Windows-centric format.
How can I keep quality stable in Xfig to EMF conversion?
Run representative samples, keep settings deterministic, and monitor these risks: Limited support on non-Windows platforms; Primarily a Windows-centric format; Validate destination compatibility before large-batch conversion.