Autocad SHX: What format is it, and how to convert it?

Question

I've tried to find out what format Autocad SHX is, but had no luck so far. What kind of format is it actually (I mean like image, vector, a mix of this, else)?

And how can I convert this to say a bitmap image?

Answer 1

A AutoCAD SHX file is a compiled shapefile. Is indicated here you might find it difficult to natively read. Quote:

An SHX file is the compiled machine code version of an SHP ASCII-based shape entities file, which means that programs can process SHX files much more quickly. All of the vector based fonts in AutoCAD, for example, are SHX files.

So, SHX files can be fonts or shape files. There are libraries out there that can work with shape files like the Teigha for .DWG library or ArcView. Interestingly, for ArcView, if you look here it states:

Shapefiles spatially describe geometries: points, polylines, and polygons. These, for example, could represent water wells, rivers, and lakes, respectively. Each item may also have attributes, that describe the items, such as the name or temperature.

I am sure there are other libraries (like FME) that you might possibly use.

Hope this helps.