What is an EMF file?
Enhanced Metafile
- Developed By
- Microsoft
- Initial Release
- 1993
- MIME Type
- image/emf
The Enhanced Metafile (EMF) is a 32-bit vector graphics format developed by Microsoft as a successor to the 16-bit Windows Metafile (WMF). It stores a sequence of device-independent GDI (Graphics Device Interface) drawing commands, allowing graphics to be rendered seamlessly across different output devices like printers and high-resolution displays. EMF resolves the coordinate limit issues of WMF and is commonly used within the Microsoft Office ecosystem for clipart and vector data storage.
How to open an EMF file
EMF files are natively supported by the Microsoft Windows operating system and can be opened with Windows Photo Viewer, Microsoft Paint, and Microsoft Office applications (Word, PowerPoint). On macOS, Apple Preview can convert and display EMF files. Cross-platform editing is possible using LibreOffice Draw or Inkscape, which can interpret the GDI commands and convert them to standard SVG paths.