Online GDS viewer
To view a GDS file online, open Glyph and drag the .gds file onto the window, or use in the app. The layout draws in the browser tab: every layer in its own colour and placed cells drawn at every level, zoomed to fit (a placed cell too small to see at the current zoom draws as its outline box). Nothing is installed and the file is not uploaded.
Open the viewer — free, no signup.
What you can do while viewing
- Zoom and pan. A mouse wheel zooms at the cursor, a trackpad scroll pans, and
Ctrl+0zooms to fit the whole cell (or the selection, when something is selected). - Show and hide layers. The Layers panel lists every
(layer, datatype)pair with its own colour; the eye on a row hides it. - Walk the hierarchy. The Cells panel lists every cell with its instance counts, and you can enter any cell to see it alone or set how many levels of placed cells are drawn.
- Measure. Press
Mand drag for a distance, or select an object to read its size, area and position in the Properties panel. - Find things.
Ctrl+Ffinds shapes and cell instances by layer, cell name or text. - Check it. Verify → Design rules… runs a geometric design-rule check on the file you opened. See Run a DRC before you expose a mask.
A damaged file is not shown as if it were whole: a truncated GDS opens with what could be read, and a warning names what is missing.
It is also an editor
The viewer is the full Glyph editor, so the same tab can change the layout and save it as GDSII, or export it as OASIS, DXF, CIF or SVG. To change the format without opening the layout, use the file converter. To learn the file format itself, see the GDSII file format reference.
Glyph is made by NANYTE and runs entirely in your browser. Corrections: [email protected].
Frequently asked questions
Is my GDS file uploaded when I view it?
No. Glyph reads the file with JavaScript in your own browser tab and draws it there. There is no server in that path, so the layout never leaves your machine.
Which kind of GDS file does this open?
GDSII, the stream format chip and photomask layouts are saved in, usually named .gds or .gdsii. A gzip-compressed .gds.gz opens too. It is not a viewer for other files that happen to be called GDS.
Which other formats can I view?
OASIS (.oas), CIF (including CleWin's), DXF (ASCII and binary), DWG and SVG open the same way. PNG and JPG images open as tracing references.
How large a file can it open?
The file is read in your browser, so your machine's memory sets the ceiling, and the reader runs off the main thread so the tab stays responsive. Glyph is tested on cells of up to about 500 000 shapes; it is not built for multi-million-polygon production databases, which a desktop tool such as KLayout handles better.
Does viewing a file change it?
No. Opening a file only reads it. The file on disk changes only if you edit the layout and then save it.