IES LM-63 Files

IES files use the .ies extension and are one of the most common photometric exchange formats for luminaires. The format is associated with the Illuminating Engineering Society LM-63 photometric data file family.

What the format contains

An IES file stores luminaire metadata and tabular luminous intensity values. The intensity data is organized by vertical and horizontal angle sets and is commonly used by lighting calculation tools for indoor, outdoor, and roadway applications.

Use in IntensityView

IntensityView can open .ies files and convert the photometric table into an internal intensity document. The application can also save selected intensity distributions as IES files for exchange with other lighting software.

Best practice

Use IES when exchanging luminaire data with tools or partners that expect LM-63 files. If the project includes multiple emitter channels, custom EikonalWorks properties, or color data, also keep an .ewi copy because IES cannot represent every internal data field.