16 KiB
File-format parity with PowerPoint
Last reviewed: 2026-10-10 · Last updated: 2026-10-12 · Change: minor (SmartArt text follows
dsp:txXfrm; previous: trivial, Groups with a small legacy child coordinate space draw outlines, dashes, arrowheads and ink at their own width (#233)) · Target: Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 16.113 (Microsoft 365) Last reviewed: 2026-10-10 · Last updated: 2026-10-13 · Change: trivial (Groups with a small legacy child coordinate space draw outlines, dashes, arrowheads and ink at their own width comments: modern threaded parts written, #70; groups with a small legacy child coordinate space draw outlines, dashes, arrowheads and ink at their own width (#233); previously major: created; formats taken from PowerPoint 16.113.4's Info.plist, PPTX coverage measured fromcrates/pptx) · Target: Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 16.113 (Microsoft 365) Last reviewed: 2026-10-10 · Last updated: 2026-10-13 · Change: minor (EMF/WMF rectangle clip regions; previous: trivial, groups with a small legacy child space, #233) · Target: Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 16.113 (Microsoft 365) Last reviewed: 2026-10-10 · Last updated: 2026-10-13 · Change: minor (embedded fonts read, written and drawn; MicroType Express subsets kept but not drawn; previously trivial: groups with a small legacy child coordinate space, #233) · Target: Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 16.113 (Microsoft 365) Last reviewed: 2026-10-13 · Last updated: 2026-10-13 · Change: minor (owned corpus round-trip; notes-master header and footer text kept; previous: trivial, groups with a small legacy child coordinate space) · Target: Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 16.113 (Microsoft 365) Last reviewed: 2026-10-13 · Last updated: 2026-10-13 · Change: minor (owned corpus for comments, links and actions, custom shows, rotated groups and inherited placeholders; paragraphdefRPrand action sounds kept; previous: trivial, groups with a small legacy child coordinate space) · Target: Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 16.113 (Microsoft 365) Last reviewed: 2026-10-13 · Last updated: 2026-10-13 · Change: minor (owned corpus for text effects, body layout, theme effects, fills, bevels and connectors; a run's inner shadow, reflection and soft edge, and a bevel preset with no kept 3-D XML, survive a save; previous: trivial, groups with a small legacy child coordinate space) · Target: Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 16.113 (Microsoft 365) Last reviewed: 2026-10-14 · Last updated: 2026-10-14 · Change: minor (3-D model parts and animation bounce end round-trip;corpus_media.rscovers SmartArt and OLE XML, media bookmarks and trims, sections, fields, ink and timing) · Target: Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 16.113 (Microsoft 365) Last reviewed: 2026-10-14 · Last updated: 2026-10-14 · Change: minor (chart trendlines round-trip; previously trivial: groups with a small legacy child coordinate space draw outlines, dashes, arrowheads and ink at their own width (#233); formats taken from PowerPoint 16.113.4's Info.plist, PPTX coverage measured fromcrates/pptx) · Target: Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 16.113 (Microsoft 365)
Every format PowerPoint reads or writes, DeckCraft's support, fidelity and how it is tested. Gaps are itemized in gaps.md. Dimension score: ~58% ready (estimated), 60–110 h to parity.
Weights inside this dimension: PPTX 70%, PDF export 10%, image export 5%, legacy binary formats 5%, everything else (templates, shows, macros, ODP, video, GIF, outline) 10%.
Documents
From /Applications/Microsoft PowerPoint.app/Contents/Info.plist CFBundleDocumentTypes (Editor =
PowerPoint opens and saves; Viewer = opens only).
| Format | PowerPoint | DeckCraft read | DeckCraft write | Fidelity / notes | Tested by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.pptx presentation |
Editor | yes | yes | Broad (see below); corpus is decks we author, not measured against PowerPoint renders | crates/pptx/tests/corpus.rs, roundtrip.rs, sample.rs, malformed.rs, sniff.rs; opened in PowerPoint by hand 2026-10-06 |
.pptx presentation |
Editor | yes | yes | Broad (see below); an owned corpus covers comments, links and actions, custom shows, rotated groups and placeholders that inherit from the layout. Embedded fonts and a corpus of decks from outside this repo are still open | crates/pptx/tests/roundtrip.rs, corpus_elements.rs, sample.rs, malformed.rs, sniff.rs; opened in PowerPoint by hand 2026-10-06 |
.pptx presentation |
Editor | yes | yes | Broad (see below); an owned corpus covers text effects, autofit, columns, vertical and RTL text, tabs, line spacing, theme effects, gradient and pattern fills, bevels and connectors. A corpus of decks from outside this repo is still open | crates/pptx/tests/roundtrip.rs, corpus_style.rs, sample.rs, malformed.rs, sniff.rs; opened in PowerPoint by hand 2026-10-06 |
.pptx presentation |
Editor | yes | yes | Broad (see below); never measured on real decks | crates/pptx/tests/roundtrip.rs, sample.rs, malformed.rs, sniff.rs (30 tests), corpus_media.rs; opened in PowerPoint by hand 2026-10-06 |
.potx template |
Editor | yes (as a presentation) | no: written with the .pptx content type |
file.saveTemplate is Save As under another name |
none |
.ppsx slide show |
Editor | yes (as a presentation) | no: written as .pptx content |
Doesn't start in show mode | none |
.pptm / .potm / .ppsm macro-enabled |
Editor | no | no | Should open and keep vbaProject.bin without running it |
none |
.ppt / .pot / .pps 97–2003 binary |
Editor | no | no | Owner decision; import only would be enough | none |
.odp OpenDocument |
Editor | no | no | none | |
.thmx Office theme |
Viewer | no | no | Browse for themes is a P2 row | none |
.deckcraft native (zip + JSON) |
n/a | yes (also .slidecraft) |
yes | Lossless for the DeckCraft model, forward compatible | crates/format tests |
| export | no | yes | Slides, notes pages, handouts (1–9); real-text layer with embedded subsets, links, bookmarks. Slide artwork is a raster image at print resolution, not vector | crates/pdf tests |
|
Outline .rtf / .txt |
export (RTF), import (outline) | .txt outline; .md as Markdown (headings are slides, list items bullets) (slide.fromOutline) |
.txt outline |
No RTF | engine tests |
| PNG / JPEG slide images | export | n/a | yes (file.export, deckcraft-cli render) |
Matches the editor's renderer | render tests |
| TIFF / BMP / GIF slide images | export | n/a | no | Easy (the image crate writes them) |
none |
| Animated GIF of the deck | export | n/a | no | none | |
| MP4 / MOV video of the deck | export | n/a | no | Needs timeline render + H.264 encode | none |
| yes | n/a | no | PR #66 (browser) open | none |
Pictures and media inside decks
| Kind | PowerPoint | DeckCraft | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| PNG, JPEG, GIF (animated), BMP, TIFF, WebP | yes | yes | image 0.25; animated GIFs play since #39 |
| SVG | yes (with PNG fallback) | no | The PNG fallback shows; SVG files can't be inserted |
| EMF / WMF | yes | partial | Drawn as vectors (paths, pens, pattern and hatch brushes, bitmaps, text in the document's fonts with the file's character advances). Rectangle clip regions (INTERSECTCLIPRECT, EXCLUDECLIPRECT, EXTSELECTCLIPRGN) limit later drawing; EMF+ records are not drawn. Legacy OLE objects (VML preview) and ActiveX controls show their pictures |
| HEIC | yes (macOS) | no | |
| Audio: MP3, AAC/M4A, ALAC, WAV, AIFF, CAF, FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, Opus | yes (Ogg/Opus partly) | yes | Pure-Rust decoders in crates/media, crates/opus |
| WMA | yes (Windows) | embedded, not playable | |
| Video: H.264, HEVC in MP4/MOV | yes | yes | Pure-Rust, software decode |
| Video: VP9, AV1 in WebM/MKV | partly (OS codecs) | yes | Ahead of PowerPoint for Mac |
| WMV | yes (Windows) | embedded, not playable | |
| Online video (YouTube embeds) | yes | no | Cloud feature |
| Embedded OLE objects | yes | kept on round trip (opaque), not insertable or editable | ShapeKind::Opaque |
3-D models (.glb) |
yes | no | |
| Embedded fonts | yes | yes | p:embeddedFontLst read and written. TrueType, OpenType and Embedded OpenType faces are used to draw; MicroType Express subsets are kept and written back, not drawn |
3-D models (.glb) |
yes | kept | The model part round-trips (p:contentPart, including an mc:AlternateContent choice and its fallback picture). Not drawn as a mesh and not inserted from the ribbon |
| Embedded fonts | yes | no | p:embeddedFontLst ignored |
PPTX coverage (PresentationML / DrawingML)
What crates/pptx reads and writes, from ECMA-376. "Kept" means the XML is preserved untouched for
the round trip even though DeckCraft doesn't model it.
| Part / feature | Read | Write | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| OPC package, content types, relationships | yes | yes | Content types found anywhere in the zip (#19); zip bombs capped; relationship cycles bounded |
| Presentation, slide size, sections (p14), custom shows | yes | yes | |
| Slide masters, layouts, placeholders and inheritance | yes | yes | |
| Themes: colour, font (Latin/EA/CS), effect schemes, background styles | yes | yes | Unknown theme parts kept |
| Notes slides and notes master | yes | yes | Header, footer, date and slide-number text on the notes master is kept. No notes-master editing view |
| Handout master | no | no | |
| Shapes: preset geometry (~180 presets), custom geometry, groups, connectors | yes | yes | Presets re-derived in crates/geom/src/preset.rs (and preset/extra.rs). Outlines, dashes, arrowheads and ink inside a group, and text, keep their size in points whatever the group's child-coordinate scale (#233). |
| Fills: solid, gradient, picture (stretch/tile/crop), pattern, group | yes | yes | |
| Lines: dash, compound, caps, joins, arrowheads | yes | yes | |
| Effects: shadow, glow, soft edges, reflection | yes | yes | |
3-D: scene3d, sp3d |
kept | kept | Not rendered |
| Text: runs, paragraphs, bullets, numbering, levels, autofit, columns, vertical, RTL, script fonts, fields, hyperlinks | yes | yes | Round-trip tests incl. justLow, date fields and paragraph defRPr (the defaults a placeholder's runs inherit, including a link). A click or hover action keeps its sound, endSnd, and a custom show's "Show and return" |
| Effects: shadow, glow, soft edges, reflection | yes | yes | On a run, inner shadow, reflection and soft edges are kept along with the outer shadow and glow |
3-D: scene3d, sp3d |
kept | kept | A bevel preset with no sp3d of its own is written back on shapes and theme effect styles. Bevels, cameras and face lighting draw approximately; extrusion does not |
| Text: runs, paragraphs, bullets, numbering, levels, autofit, columns, vertical, RTL, script fonts, fields, hyperlinks | yes | yes | Round-trip tests incl. justLow, date fields, gradient and outline on a run, autofit, columns, vertical and RTL text, tab stops and line spacing (corpus_style.rs) |
Text warp (prstTxWarp) |
yes | yes | All 40 presets rendered (crates/geom/src/warp.rs); adjust values (avLst) round-trip |
| Pictures with crop, recolour, duotone, alpha, luminance | yes | yes | |
| Tables with styles | yes | yes | Merges and both diagonal borders round-trip |
Charts (c:chartSpace) |
yes | yes | Original XML kept in Chart.raw. Trendlines (type, order or period, forecast, intercept, equation and R²) are read and written; they are not drawn. A combo chart's secondary value axis is read and is not written back when the chart is rebuilt |
Charts (cx: chartex: waterfall, funnel, treemap, sunburst, histogram, box) |
no | no | |
SmartArt (dgm) |
drawing part only, as a group; text laid out on its dsp:txXfrm rectangle |
as shapes | Diagram data model lost on save |
SmartArt (dgm) |
drawing part only, as a group | as shapes | Diagram data model lost on save. A diagram with no relationship parts keeps its XML; the drawing and data parts are still dropped (#203) |
Equations (OMML, a14:m) |
no | no | PR #55 open |
Audio / video (p14:media, trim, fades, bookmarks) |
yes | partly | Playback options lost on save (#74) |
Ink (contentPart) |
yes | as a group of freeform lines | PowerPoint sees shapes, not ink |
| Transitions incl. p14/p15 (Vortex, Morph…) | all 48 | all 48 | every_transition_kind_round_trips |
| Animations: timing tree, build paragraphs, triggers, motion paths | yes (flattened to the Animation Pane list) | yes (rebuilt) | every_animation_effect_survives; repeat, triggers and bounce end kept; rewind lost (#77) |
| Comments: legacy | yes | yes | |
Comments: modern threaded (p188) |
yes | yes | Written next to the flattened legacy part; replies and resolved state round-trip (threads_and_resolved_round_trip) |
Unknown slide-level elements (graphicFrame OLE, extensions, mc:AlternateContent) |
kept | kept | Rendered as a labelled placeholder with the preview picture when present |
| Tags, custom XML, VBA | no / no / no | ||
| Embedded fonts | yes | yes | MicroType Express subsets kept, not drawn |
| Encryption (password to open) | no | no |
What would move the PPTX number
- A larger owned corpus (corporate templates, SmartArt, chartex charts, EMF, embedded fonts,
every transition and animation) in a corpus repo.
crates/pptx/tests/corpus.rsalready checks open → save → reopen (parts and text) for decks we author. Still needed: render checks and a PowerPoint reference render for each (owner runs PowerPoint). - The round-trip losses above (#70, #74, #77).
- SVG rendering. EMF+ records inside EMF/WMF are still not drawn.
Revision history
| Date | Change | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-12 | minor | SmartArt import lays each shape's text out on its dsp:txXfrm text rectangle instead of the shape box |
| 2026-10-13 | minor | EMF/WMF rectangle clip regions limit later drawing; EMF+ records remain |
| 2026-10-13 | minor | Embedded fonts read and written; TrueType, OpenType and Embedded OpenType faces drawn |
| 2026-10-13 | minor | Owned corpus round-trip (parts and text). Notes-master header, footer, date and slide-number text is written back |
| 2026-10-13 | minor | Owned corpus for comments, links and actions, custom shows, rotated groups and inherited placeholders. Paragraph defRPr and action sounds (including custom-show return) survive a save |
| 2026-10-13 | minor | Owned corpus for text effects, body layout, theme effects, fills, bevels and connectors. A run's inner shadow, reflection and soft edge, and a bevel preset with no kept 3-D XML, survive a save |
| 2026-10-14 | minor | 3-D models (.glb) round-trip, including an alternate-content fallback picture; animation bounce end is read and written (corpus_media.rs) |
| 2026-10-14 | minor | Chart trendlines round-trip (corpus_charts.rs); merges, diagonal borders, columns, autofit, vertical text and WordArt warp are in that slice |
| 2026-10-12 | minor | EMF/WMF text and pattern brushes drawn; OLE (VML) and ActiveX previews read |
| 2026-10-12 | minor | Text warps rendered; their adjust values read and written |
| 2026-10-12 | trivial | Groups with a small legacy child coordinate space draw outlines, dashes, arrowheads and ink at their own width (#233) |
| 2026-10-10 | major | Created from PowerPoint 16.113.4's CFBundleDocumentTypes, crates/pptx reader/writer and tests, and the open round-trip issues |
| 2026-10-13 | minor | Comments: the writer emits the modern threaded part (p188) next to the flattened legacy one; the reader prefers the modern part and scales its EMU positions (#70) |