The file formats: .lb5, Konto JSON and .lcabyg.json
LCAbyg imports and exports via three different file formats: LCAbyg’s own format plus two older formats from LCAbyg 5 (2023) that ensure backward compatibility with the earlier LCAbyg Desktop program.
| Format | Status | What it is | Used for |
|---|---|---|---|
.lcabyg.json |
LCAbyg’s format | LCAbyg’s own, versioned project format | Export, archiving and sharing of projects from LCAbyg |
.lb5 |
Old format (LCAbyg 2023) | The binary project format from LCAbyg 5 (LCAbyg Desktop) | Importing existing desktop projects into LCAbyg |
| Konto JSON | Old format (LCAbyg 2023) | The flat, unversioned node/edge format from LCAbyg 2023 (v5) | Compatibility with LCAbyg 2023 and external tools built against the old format |
.lcabyg.json: the current format
Section titled “.lcabyg.json: the current format”.lcabyg.json is the format LCAbyg itself is built around, and the only one of the three that is
developed further on an ongoing basis. See The LCAbyg project file
for what the file contains.
Older formats
Section titled “Older formats”.lb5 and Konto JSON both exist purely to allow importing from and exchanging with older systems.
An .lb5 project from LCAbyg 5 (2023) can contain several scenarios (building models) in the same
file. On import you choose which scenarios to bring in, and each selected scenario becomes its own
version. If the file contains only one scenario, it is brought in without anything to choose. See
Scenarios for what a scenario was, and what
happens to it on import.
Konto JSON
Section titled “Konto JSON”Konto JSON is the same flat node/edge format LCAbyg 2023 itself uses for export. It is not the
same as .lcabyg.json, and it is unversioned and frozen for the sake of backward compatibility.
The user’s own data is exported as full nodes, while library data is by default exported only as
references, which are recreated from the library on import.