Convert Revit to AutoCAD
Revit exports to DWG natively, so this one is genuinely straightforward. What surprises people is what comes out: Revit exports views rather than the model, and everything that made it a BIM model stops existing at the moment of export.
Also asked as convert rvt to dwg. Same answer, written for the way the question is usually typed.
We cannot read .rvt or write .dwg — both formats are closed, and DWG additionally requires a commercially licensed library. Everything on this page happens inside Revit, which does it well and is the only thing that can.
Exporting DWG from Revit
Open the view you want to export
Open the plan, section or elevation in the project browser
Revit exports views, not models. What is visible in the current view — with its crop region, its visibility settings and its detail level — is what ends up in the DWG. Set the view up exactly as you want the drawing before exporting.
Start the export
File → Export → CAD Formats → DWG
The export dialog lists every view and sheet in the project, with the current view already selected. You can tick several and export them all in one pass.
Configure the layer mapping
Modify Export Setup (the "…" button) → Layers tab
This is the step almost everyone skips and the one that decides whether the recipient can work with the result. It maps Revit categories — Walls, Doors, Grids — onto AutoCAD layer names.
The default mapping follows the AIA standard. If the office receiving the drawing has its own layer standard, set it up here once and save the setup — otherwise they get layer names that mean nothing to them and have to remap everything by hand.
Choose how solids are exported
Modify Export Setup → Solids tab → Polymesh or ACIS solids
This only matters for 3D views. ACIS solids gives real solid geometry that AutoCAD can work with; polymesh gives faceted meshes. For a 2D plan or section, it makes no difference.
Pick the AutoCAD version
Files of type: AutoCAD 2018 DWG Files (or older)
Export to a version at least as old as the recipient’s AutoCAD. A newer DWG will not open in older software, and this is the most common reason an exported file is rejected.
Export, then open the result yourself
Next… → choose a folder → OK
Open the DWG before sending it. Revit exports what the view showed, and things that were cropped, hidden or at a different detail level are sometimes not what you assumed.
What a BIM model becomes when it is CAD geometry
A Revit wall is an object that knows it is a wall. It has a type, a height, a fire rating, a cost, a material buildup, and a relationship to the rooms on either side of it. It appears in schedules. Change the wall type and every instance updates.
Exported to DWG, that wall is two parallel lines on a layer called A-WALL. Nothing else survives, because DWG has no concept of a wall — it is a drawing format, and a drawing is made of lines.
This is a one-way trip and it is worth being explicit about it with whoever receives the file. They cannot edit the model; they can edit a drawing of the model. If they change those two lines, nothing in Revit knows or cares, and the next export overwrites their work.
If the recipient genuinely needs the model rather than a drawing, IFC is the format to use — File, Export, IFC. It is the open BIM exchange standard and it carries the objects as objects, with their properties. Most BIM software reads it. AutoCAD, being a drawing program, does not really.
Exporting a whole set rather than one view
The export dialog lists sheets as well as views, and exporting sheets is usually what an architectural office actually wants — a sheet carries the title block, the annotations and the drawing arrangement.
Each sheet exports as one DWG. Revit can also export the sheet’s views as external references rather than as geometry, which is controlled in the export setup, and which produces a cleaner set for anyone who works that way.
Naming matters more than it sounds. The export dialog has a naming section that builds filenames from the project, sheet number and view name, and setting it up once saves renaming forty files later.
What to do at the other end
The exported DWG frequently has more layers than anyone wants, because Revit creates one for every category and subcategory that appeared in the view. PURGE in AutoCAD removes the empty ones, which usually halves the list.
Line weights come across as they were set in Revit, which may not match the recipient’s standards. That is a remapping job in AutoCAD, and it is another argument for configuring the layer mapping properly at export time.
Text and dimensions come across as text and dimensions, not as live Revit annotations, so they no longer update if anything changes. That is expected and it is part of what the one-way trip means.
Questions
- Can I convert a .rvt file without Revit?
- No. The format is closed and Autodesk publishes no specification. Revit itself is the only thing that opens one. Autodesk publishes a free viewer for some of its formats, but editing or converting needs Revit.
- Why does my DWG have hundreds of layers?
- Revit creates a layer for every category and subcategory in the view. Run PURGE in AutoCAD to remove the empty ones, and configure the layer mapping in the export setup so the ones that remain have names the recipient recognises.
- Can I get the model back into Revit from the DWG?
- Not as a model. The DWG holds lines where the model had walls, doors and rooms. You can link the DWG into Revit as a background to trace over, which is what people do, but nothing rebuilds itself.
- Should I export IFC instead?
- If the recipient needs the model with its object data, yes — IFC is the open BIM exchange format and carries walls as walls. If they need a drawing to work on in AutoCAD, DWG is right.
Where to go next
Related guides
Tools that do part of this here
About these formats
Checked against current software versions on 2026-09-11