USDZ: Apple's New File Format for Augmented Reality Explained

In a dense WWDC keynote, Apple's Craig Federighi highlighted a nuts-and-bolts development tool designed to make augmented reality (AR) a focal point from a content creator's point of view: a common, open file format to unify the field.

In the same way that TXT files define word processing or JPGs define image files across a host of creative and distribution platforms, arching over the field (as opposed to, say, somewhat narrower DOCs or PSDs), the new USDZ file format aims to serve a similar function for AR—at least, across the Apple ecosystem.

USDZ stands for "Universal Scene Description." The idea of a cross-application unification scheme for AR creation is a concept ripe for the times, as AR content is in need a single rallying point for both consumption on the consumer end and for creatives' distribution and development efforts.

To that end, Apple worked with Pixar to create the format and with a host of key third parties, among them Adobe and Autodesk, on adoption. The idea: All of the assets for an AR scenario or environment are rendered in a single ZIP-style archive, as opposed to a folder structure or as a group of loose, nested sub-elements.

Though an archive, USDZ does not employ encryption or compression, retaining the quality of the original elements. The file format needs to be unpacked for editing tools to be able to access the contents. Indeed, Federighi said USDZ is akin to an "AR Quick Look," in reference to the preview function in macOS.

Apple noted that USDZ content, upon the release of iOS 12, will be viewable in a range of Apple app environments, including Mail, Messages, and Safari, as well as in file browsers. The keynote demo showed a piece of USDZ-format content being placed in the News app, with a presenter manipulating and rotating the content manually within the app.

Of course, a huge player in the creator space for this kind of content is Adobe, and at the keynote, Adobe EVP and CTO Abhay Parasnis was on hand to buck up support for the USDZ format. He announced that USDZ will be supported natively across the whole Adobe Creative Cloud suite of applications. Also, he mentioned that Adobe will augment Creative Cloud with a new iOS app for designing AR experiences, letting creators bring in objects from around the rest of the CC suite to bear on AR projects. This would include the first instance of WYSIWYG AR editing.

About Our Expert

John Burek

Executive Editor and PC Labs Director

My Experience

I have been a technology journalist for almost 30 years and have covered just about every kind of computer gear—from the 386SX to 64-core processors—in my long tenure as an editor, a writer, and an advice columnist. For almost a quarter-century, I worked on the seminal, gigantic Computer Shopper magazine (and later, its digital counterpart), aka the phone book for PC buyers, and the nemesis of every postal delivery person. I was Computer Shopper's editor in chief for its final nine years, after which much of its digital content was folded into PCMag.com. I also served, briefly, as the editor in chief of the well-known hard-core tech site Tom's Hardware.

During that time, I've built and torn down enough desktop PCs to equip a city block's worth of internet cafes. Under race conditions, I've built PCs from bare-board to bootup in under 5 minutes. I never met a screwdriver I didn't like.

I was also a copy chief and a fact checker early in my career. (Editing and polishing technical content to make it palatable for consumer audiences is my forte.) I also worked as an editor of scholarly science books, and as an editor of "Dummies"-style computer guidebooks for Brady Books (now, BradyGames). I'm a lifetime New Yorker, a graduate of New York University's journalism program, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

The Technology I Use

I use a lot of computers on rotation in my daily work, but I rely on just a few to get things done. I split my work life mostly between a Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 (a 15-inch Ryzen model), paired with a Lenovo ThinkVision portable monitor, and a custom-built big-chassis Windows 10 desktop PC that has served me well for years now. (Specs: Liquid-cooled Intel Core i7-6950X Extreme Edition, 32GB of RAM, and a GeForce GTX 1080 card.) That's all in a giant chassis with six hard drives and SSDs packing its bays. (As I upgrade systems, I just keep moving the old warhorse drives over.) This behemoth is hooked up to a 32-inch LG monitor.

I also have a bunch of PCs around the house, all custom builds: another one attached to my main TV (for gaming and occasional forays into VR), a mini-PC on the bedroom TV (acting as a media server), and a Mini-ITX desktop in a corner of the living room...just because. I carry around an oversize OnePlus phone, but when I do long-haul travel, a vintage iPod Touch comes along, too, for old times' sake.

I wasn't always a PC guy. I cut my teeth on a cassette-drive-equipped Commodore VIC-20 in the 1980s. But I got serious with Apple desktops in the early 1990s, starting with a Macintosh SE, then a Macintosh LC, and finally one of the short-lived Umax "clone" Macs, before building my first PC and never looking back.

With all my typing and editing work over the years, I've become a huge proponent of thumb trackballs, which minimize wrist action (and my wrist pain). I have a secret cache of the long-discontinued Microsoft Trackball Optical Mouse (my personal favorite), held in an undisclosed location.

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