Where does a .fig file come from?
Figma keeps files in its cloud. A .fig file exists when someone saves a copy with File › Save local copy… in Figma, which is how designs get sent by email or archived. A Figma link (figma.com/design/…) is not a file: to open that design elsewhere, ask its owner for a local copy.
Open it in FigCraft, step by step
- Download FigCraft for Windows, macOS, Linux or FreeBSD. It’s free and needs no account.
- Choose File › Open… and pick the .fig file, or drag it onto the FigCraft window.
- Read the warnings FigCraft shows after the import. They list layers it couldn’t represent exactly.
- Go through the pages and the Layers panel. Components, instances with their overrides, styles and variables should be in place.
- Save it as a .figcraft file, or export frames as PNG, JPG, WebP, SVG or PDF.
The browser build on this site can’t open files yet, .fig included. In the browser, you can bring in SVG exports of the frames you need with Import SVG or image in the editor’s top bar.
What comes across from a .fig file?
| Comes across | Approximated or left out |
|---|---|
| Pages and the layer tree, geometry, fills, strokes and effects | Sticky notes, connectors, tables and code blocks become the closest frames, text and vectors, with a warning |
| Text with mixed styles | Fonts you don’t have installed are substituted |
| Vectors as editable vector networks, boolean operations | Per-point stroke joins |
| Auto layout (grid included), constraints | Fixed or content-sized grid tracks |
| Components, sets, instances with overrides, styles | Video fills |
| Variables with modes, prototyping with conditions | Variables bound to fields FigCraft can’t bind |
FigCraft’s developers built the .fig reader from public format notes and test it on generated files; they haven’t checked it against real-world files yet. FigJam (.jam) and Figma Slides (.deck) files aren’t supported.
No .fig file? Use the REST API JSON or SVG
If you have API access to a Figma file, FigCraft also opens the JSON from Figma’s REST API (GET /v1/files/:key) with its local variables and images folder, which carries prototypes and variables too. For single frames, Export › SVG in Figma gives a file that FigCraft imports as editable layers in the desktop app or in the browser.
Can FigCraft save back to .fig?
Experimentally. The desktop app can write a .fig (File › Export… › .fig), and its developers have opened written files in other software, where layers, fills, gradients, strokes, shadows, vectors, components and text draw as in FigCraft. Effects such as glass and noise, images and prototype interactions are still unchecked there, so treat it as a convenience, not an archive.
Related
See FigCraft as a free Figma alternative for what the app does and doesn’t do yet, or try the AI UI generator to start a new design from a description.