.CDR

Introduction

A CDR file is the working file of CorelDRAW, the vector drawing program first released by Corel in 1989. It holds pages, layers, shapes, text, fills, effects and embedded bitmaps.

The format has changed with almost every CorelDRAW release and Corel has never published it. Other programs read it through reverse-engineered libraries, which cope best with the common versions.

Structure

Older CDR files are RIFF files: they start with RIFF, a little-endian length, and a form type of CDR followed by one character that marks the version. Inside are nested chunks and lists for the document settings, pages, layers and objects.

Files from CorelDRAW X4 onwards are ZIP archives, starting with PK. The drawing data inside the archive keeps a RIFF-style chunk structure, alongside other parts such as a preview image.

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