How Adaptive Block Caching Optimizes Performance for AEC Collaboration on Massive CAD Files

For professionals in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry, collaboration is the cornerstone of every project. However, the files that are core to AEC work, such as complex CAD models in Civil 3D or OpenRoads, or massive PDF drawing sets, are among the toughest to collaborate on in the cloud.

You know the frustration: These types of project files are rarely a simple asset. We’re talking about intricate external references (XREFs), large amounts of data, multi-layered 3D models, and more, which make these deliverables unwieldy to work on. As you open, navigate, edit, and sync these files, you constantly worry about freezes, crashes, and lost work. The problem is that many stakeholders need access, but they aren’t tethered to fast internet connections and require job site access.

Our numbers have shown that file sizes are growing. There’s been a 67% increase in .rvt files over 500MB uploaded into Egnyte from 2023 to October of 2025. If we look at another common file type in Egnyte, .dwg, there has been a 97% increase. 

As file sizes and complexity grow, so do the key issues, including:

• The need to transfer files in their entirety, leading to slow uploads, downloads, and opens 
• Poor performance results from crashes, freezes, broken XREFs, and delays waiting for files to render before work can begin fully
• Inefficient versioning that leads to lost work, overlapping versions, and doubt over which is the most recent version 

To help address these issues and the difficulty in collaborating on the deliverables AEC professionals deal with every day, Egnyte has introduced Adaptive Block Caching (ABC). This solution, delivered via our desktop application, is specifically designed to help AEC professionals collaborate and execute. With ABC, teams benefit from:

• Block-level file handling to upload, download, open, and cache files in blocks rather than in their entirety. 
• Improved performance via a persistent, up-to-date cache that manages all XREFs and linked content, enables file locking rules, and provides file pinning for access from the office, job sites, or on the go. 
• Optimized file versioning that stores changes to content blocks rather than multiple full file versions. 

With ABC, Egnyte’s Desktop App lets users work with file blocks rather than entire files, which makes massive file handling more efficient. ABC also enables users to facilitate cloud-based collaboration on these massive deliverables from their desktops.

Reach out to learn more about how ABC can optimize your team's execution of the complex deliverables you work on every day.