What Is an FDX File? Final Draft's XML Format Explained

An FDX file is a screenplay saved in Final Draft's native format: a single plain-text XML document in which every paragraph is tagged with its element type, alongside the title page, scene numbers and revision marks. Because it is readable XML rather than a locked binary, other screenwriting apps can open and write it, which is why FDX is the file producers ask for.

Updated 2026-09-22 · About 7 sections · 5 answered questions

What is an FDX file?

An FDX file is a screenplay in the format Final Draft writes. The extension is .fdx, the letters stand for Final Draft XML, and the contents are exactly that: an XML document, in plain UTF-8 text, describing a script one paragraph at a time.

Final Draft moved to FDX with version 7 and has used it ever since. Before that, Final Draft 5 and 6 saved a binary .fdr file that nothing else could read. The switch to XML is the reason the format matters beyond Final Draft's own customers: an .fdx is text, the text is legible, and any program that can parse XML can turn it back into a formatted screenplay.

That single fact is why a free browser viewer can show you a script in seconds, why phone apps can open one, why a producer can send an FDX to a writer on different software and expect it to work, and why the FDX guide exists.

What the FDX XML actually contains

Open an .fdx in a text editor and you see a tree of tags. The root is <FinalDraft>, the script body sits inside <Content>, and every block on the page is one <Paragraph> whose Type attribute names the screenplay element. The words live inside <Text>. A short passage looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no" ?>
<FinalDraft DocumentType="Script" Template="No" Version="5">
  <Content>
    <Paragraph Type="Scene Heading">
      <SceneProperties Length="1 2/8" Page="1" Title=""/>
      <Text>INT. NORTH POINT LIGHTHOUSE - NIGHT</Text>
    </Paragraph>
    <Paragraph Type="Action">
      <Text>The lamp sweeps the water and catches a dinghy drifting sideways.</Text>
    </Paragraph>
    <Paragraph Type="Character">
      <Text>MARA</Text>
    </Paragraph>
    <Paragraph Type="Parenthetical">
      <Text>(into the radio)</Text>
    </Paragraph>
    <Paragraph Type="Dialogue">
      <Text>You can see the whole coast from up here.</Text>
    </Paragraph>
    <Paragraph Type="Transition">
      <Text>CUT TO:</Text>
    </Paragraph>
  </Content>
  <TitlePage>
    <Content>
      <Paragraph Alignment="Center">
        <Text>NORTH POINT</Text>
      </Paragraph>
    </Content>
  </TitlePage>
</FinalDraft>

Rendered by any competent app, that XML becomes the page you would expect:

INT. NORTH POINT LIGHTHOUSE - NIGHT

The lamp sweeps the water and catches a dinghy drifting sideways.

                    MARA
              (into the radio)
          You can see the whole coast from up here.

                                              CUT TO:

The Type values you will meet in an ordinary script are:

Scene Heading — the slugline.
Action — description.
Character — the cue above a speech.
Parenthetical — the bracketed direction inside a speech.
Dialogue — the speech.
Transition — CUT TO:, DISSOLVE TO: and the rest.
Shot and General — shooting-script language and untyped text. Rare in a spec.

Three more structures sit around the paragraphs. <SceneProperties> hangs off a scene heading and carries the scene number, the page it fell on, and an optional synopsis. <TitlePage> holds the title page as its own block, kept apart from the body so it never counts toward page one. And a <DualDialogue> wrapper groups two speeches that sit side by side. Bold, italic and underline are recorded as a Style attribute on the <Text> run, and revision marks are a RevisionID on the run that changed.

Notice what is absent. Nothing says how far a dialogue block is indented or what font to use. The paragraph declares Type="Dialogue"; the app supplies the layout from its own element settings. Meaning in the file, appearance in the app. That split is the reason the format travels.

What an FDX file stores that a PDF does not

A PDF of a screenplay is a picture of pages. An FDX is the data the pages were drawn from.

Stored in the file	FDX	PDF
Element type of every paragraph	Yes, explicitly	No, only position on the page
Scene numbers tied to scenes	Yes	As printed text only
Title page as a separate object	Yes	Page one of the document
Revision marks and revision sets	Yes	Asterisks in the margin, if printed
Script notes	Yes	No
Dual dialogue as a structure	Yes	Two columns of text
Fixed page breaks and identical look everywhere	No, recomputed by each app	Yes
Editable as a screenplay	Yes	No

That last pair is the trade. An FDX does not lock the page count: page size, margins and font metrics live in the app, so the same script can run a page longer in one program than in another. When you need a document that looks identical on every screen, you convert the FDX to PDF and send that. When someone needs to work on the script, they need the FDX.

Why FDX is the industry interchange format

Production runs on Final Draft. Scheduling software reads scene headings from it, script coordinators issue coloured revision pages from it, and a studio's delivery checklist will name .fdx as the required file. When a producer says "send me the script", a PDF is what they read and an FDX is what they hand to the next department.

The format earned that position because it is open in practice even though Final Draft never published a formal specification. Anything that writes well-formed XML with the expected element types produces a file Final Draft will open, and every serious screenwriting app now imports and exports it. That includes Fade In, Highland, WriterDuet, Arc Studio and free apps. Zen Writer imports and exports FDX on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Android, so a writer who never owned Final Draft can still take an FDX from a producer and return one.

A writer drafts in one app, a co-writer polishes in another, the script coordinator locks pages in Final Draft, and the file that moves between them is always an FDX. If you are choosing software, FDX support should be the first box you tick; the Final Draft alternatives worth considering all have it.

FDX vs FDR, PDF and Fountain

Four formats show up around a screenplay, and they are not interchangeable.

Format	What it is	Use it when
`.fdx`	Final Draft XML. Plain text, structured, editable, readable by many apps.	The script is going to someone who will edit it or take it into production.
`.fdr`	The binary format of Final Draft 5 and 6. Not readable by modern third-party apps.	Never, for new work. Open old FDR files in Final Draft and save as FDX.
`.pdf`	A fixed rendering of the pages.	The reader only needs to read: contests, managers, actors, table reads.
`.fountain`	Plain-text screenplay markup you can write in any editor.	You want a human-readable file under version control, or a format no app can lock you into.

Fountain deserves a closer look because it solves the same problem as FDX from the other direction. Where FDX tags every paragraph with XML, Fountain infers the element from the text itself: a line beginning INT. is a scene heading, a line in caps above a speech is a character cue. It is smaller and easier to write by hand, and it loses Final Draft-specific data such as revision marks. The FDX vs Fountain comparison covers when each one wins, and the Fountain syntax guide shows the markup itself.

One more extension you may meet: .fdxt is a Final Draft template. It is the same XML with a template flag set, and most apps that read FDX will read it.

How to open an FDX file for free

Because the format is plain XML, you do not need Final Draft to read or edit an FDX. Three routes:

Read it in the browser. Drop the file into the free FDX viewer and it renders as a formatted screenplay with a scene list and page count. No install, no login. Right for a script someone emailed you that you only need to read.
Open and edit it in Zen Writer. Import the .fdx on iPhone, iPad, Mac or Android, edit it with automatic formatting, and export FDX back out so the file returns in the format it arrived in. Free to download, no account, works offline, and the script never leaves the device.
Convert it. To PDF for a fixed, sendable copy; to Fountain for plain text you can edit anywhere; to Word only when someone insists on a .docx.

The step-by-step routes by device are in how to open an FDX file, with separate pages for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Android. If you need to change the script rather than read it, start with editing an FDX without Final Draft.

Common FDX file mistakes

Renaming .fdx to .xml or .txt to "fix" it. The extension is a label. You get the same tags under a different name and lose the association that FDX-aware apps use to open it.
Opening it in Word or Google Docs. Neither has a screenplay parser. Word expects its own XML vocabulary and rejects the file; Docs imports raw tags. If you genuinely need a .docx, convert FDX to Word with a tool that understands the elements.
Sending a PDF when an FDX was asked for. A PDF cannot be edited as a script. Rebuilding one via PDF to FDX is guesswork about element types, and the producer will ask for the real file anyway.
Hand-editing the XML in a text editor. One unbalanced tag or a bare ampersand and no app will open the file. There is no repair tool. Edit in an app that reads and writes FDX.
Trusting the page count across apps. Page breaks are not stored. If a competition has a page limit, check the count in the PDF you actually submit.
Assuming a .fdr is an FDX. It is not, and third-party apps cannot read it. Ask the sender to re-save from Final Draft.

Frequently asked questions

Is an FDX file the same as a Final Draft file?

Yes. FDX has been Final Draft's native format since version 7, so a .fdx is a Final Draft file in the same way a .docx is a Word file. Older .fdr files from Final Draft 5 and 6 are a different, binary format that modern third-party apps cannot read.

Can I open an FDX file without Final Draft?

Yes. FDX is plain XML, so a free browser viewer can render it and apps such as Zen Writer can import, edit and re-export it on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Android. You only need Final Draft itself for its own production features.

Does an FDX file store page numbers and page breaks?

No. Scene numbers are stored, but pagination is recomputed by whichever app opens the file from its page size, margins and font metrics. The same script can run a page longer in one program than another, so check page count in the PDF you submit.

What program opens .fdx files?

Final Draft opens them natively. So do most screenwriting apps, including Zen Writer, Fade In, Highland, WriterDuet and Arc Studio, and a free browser FDX viewer will display one without any install. Word, Google Docs and Preview cannot open the format.

Is FDX a proprietary format?

It is owned by Final Draft and has no published specification, but in practice it is open: the file is readable XML and any app that writes well-formed XML with the expected element types produces a file Final Draft accepts. That is why it works as the industry's interchange format.

Ready to turn this idea into a screenplay?

Zen Writer imports .fdx files and exports valid FDX back out, so you can open a Final Draft script on iPhone, iPad, Mac or Android, edit it, and return it in the same format.

Open an FDX in Zen Writer

Free on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Android.

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FDX & Final Draft Files

What Is an FDX File? Final Draft's XML Format Explained

What is an FDX file?

What the FDX XML actually contains

What an FDX file stores that a PDF does not

Why FDX is the industry interchange format

FDX vs FDR, PDF and Fountain

How to open an FDX file for free

Common FDX file mistakes

Frequently asked questions

Ready to turn this idea into a screenplay?

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