Power BI files come in multiple formats. If you have been working with Power BI Desktop for a while, you probably know the PBIX format well. But there are other formats too: PBIT, PBIP, and PBIR. The last two are more recent additions, and there is also a language called TMDL (Tabular Model Definition Language) that comes with its own file type.
In this blog post, I am going to explain the differences between all of these formats, why each one exists, and which one you should use for your scenarios. I will also show you, through a practical demo, what PBIP looks like and how you can use it to make your development process significantly better.
For a long time, there was essentially one main format in Power BI: PBIX.
Think of it like the Microsoft Office equivalents. When you create an Excel file, the extension is .xlsx. When you create a Word document, it is .docx. In the same way, when you build a solution in Power BI Desktop and save it, the file gets the .pbix extension.
The PBIX file is a single self-contained file. You build your data model, write your DAX measures, create your visualizations, and save everything into one file. You can carry that file around, share it with a colleague, and they can open it in their Power BI Desktop with all the same data inside — assuming you are using Import mode. (DirectQuery or Live Connection will behave differently because they require access to the source.)
For a long time, this was the default and only real option.
The Problem with PBIX
PBIX is convenient, but it has one significant limitation: it is just one single file.
That might not sound like a problem at first. But think about this scenario: you are on a team and a colleague wants to work on the visualizations while you are modifying the semantic model at the same time. With PBIX, that is simply not possible. You cannot work on the same file concurrently.
There is also the source control challenge. If you push your PBIX file to GitHub or Azure DevOps, the entire file — as one big binary — is stored there. The next time you push a change, it is hard to compare what has actually changed. You cannot easily see “this visual changed from a bar chart to a line chart” because it is all packed inside one opaque file.
Technically, a PBIX file is actually a ZIP archive under the hood. You can rename the extension to .zip, unzip it, and see what is inside. I have another video explaining the internal zip structure of PBIX files if you want to explore that further. But the point is: the old structure was not built for multi-developer environments, CI/CD pipelines, or version control workflows.
Before we get to the newer formats, let me cover PBIT — Power BI Template.
A PBIT file stores everything you have done in your solution — the Power Query transformations, the relationships between tables, the data structure, the calculations, the visualizations — but without the data. There will be no data loaded into the semantic model.
So when is a template useful? Here is a real-world example.
Let’s say you have built a reporting solution for gyms across the country. All these gyms happen to use the same operational system, so the data structure is identical for all of them. Instead of giving each gym a PBIX file with someone else’s data in it (which would be a privacy disaster), you save your solution as a PBIT. When you set up the solution for a new gym, you open the template, connect it to their data source, refresh the data, and publish. Clean and simple.
In short:
PBIX = your solution with data
PBIT = your solution without data (reusable template)
Now let’s talk about the format that is changing how Power BI development works: PBIP.
PBIP stands for Power BI Project. This is currently in preview (you can enable it under Options > Preview Features in Power BI Desktop), but it represents the future direction of Power BI file storage.
The key difference is simple but profound: instead of saving everything into one single file, PBIP saves your solution as a project folder with separate files.
When you save a PBIX as a PBIP, here is what you get:
PBIR stands for Power BI Report. It is the report definition file inside a PBIP project.
When you open a PBIR file in a text editor (like Notepad), you will see it is a JSON file. It contains the connection string to the semantic model, the visualization configuration, page definitions, and all the visual elements of your report.
Because it is JSON, it is human-readable and text-based. This is exactly what makes it so powerful.
TMDL stands for Tabular Model Definition Language. It is a language specifically designed for working with the tabular model — defining tables, measures, relationships, row-level security, translations, and more.
If you need to make changes to the visualization side of your report, you edit the PBIR file.
If you need to make changes to the modeling side — measures, relationships, RLS configurations — you work with TMDL. TMDL changes require the modeling engine (Vertipaq) to process them, so they go through tools like the TMDL tab in Power BI Desktop or external tools like Tabular Editor.
Here is a scenario that I encounter all the time in consulting work:
You have 10 or 15 reports all live-connected to a shared semantic model. One day, you rename a measure — let’s say from Sales to Total Sales. Now you need to update every single report that uses that measure.
With PBIX, you have to open each file individually, find the measure reference, update it manually, save, and repeat — 15 times.
With PBIP and PBIR, because everything is stored as plain text files, you can write a script — a PowerShell script or any program — that iterates through all your PBIR files, finds every instance of the old measure name, replaces it with the new one, and saves. Done. No need to even open Power BI Desktop.
You can even take that further and combine it with the Power BI REST APIs or Fabric REST APIs to automatically publish the updated reports to the Power BI service. The whole process — rename, update, publish — can be fully automated.
That is a very significant win.
Demo: Changing the Data Source Connection Without Opening Power BI Desktop
In the video, I demonstrate exactly this. I have a report that connects to Semantic Model 1 in my Power BI workspace. The report shows $29 million in sales from that model.
Instead of opening Power BI Desktop and going through the UI to change the connection, I simply:
Open the PBIR file in Notepad
Find the connection string (which includes the workspace ID and the semantic model ID)
Replace the semantic model ID with the ID of Semantic Model 2
Save the file
When I reopen the same Power BI project, the report now shows $49 billion in sales — because it is now reading from the second semantic model. The connection changed completely without touching Power BI Desktop.
This kind of automation — changing report connections, updating measure references, bulk-replacing field names — is exactly what the PBIP and PBIR format unlocks for your development and deployment workflows.
When you connect your PBIP folder to GitHub or Azure DevOps (which you can do directly from a Fabric workspace), you get meaningful diffs. Instead of seeing “a binary file changed,” you can see exactly:
“This visual changed from a bar chart to a line chart”
“This measure expression was updated”
“This page was added”
That kind of visibility in source control is not possible with PBIX. This is what professional development teams need.
Summary: Choosing the Right Format
Here is a quick comparison to help you decide:
Format
What it Stores
Best For
PBIX
Everything in one file (data + report + model)
Simple development, quick sharing
PBIT
Everything except data (template)
Reusable solution templates for multiple clients
PBIP
Project folder with separated report and semantic model
Team development, automation, CI/CD, source control
PBIR
Report definition as JSON (inside PBIP)
Scripting and automating report changes
TMDL
Tabular model definition (inside PBIP)
Scripting and automating model changes
The key point to emphasize: from the Power BI Desktop experience, you will not notice a difference. You still build your reports and models exactly the same way. The difference is entirely in how the files are stored and what becomes possible once they are stored in the project format.
If you are a developer working in a team, if you care about version control, if you want to automate your deployments — PBIP is the future, and you should start using it now.
Related Resources on RADACAD
If you want to go deeper into Power BI development, here are some related posts from our blog:
Power BI file formats have evolved significantly. PBIX will remain the default for now, but PBIP — with its project structure, separated PBIR report files, and TMDL model definitions — is clearly where Power BI development is heading.
The benefits are real and practical: better team collaboration, meaningful source control diffs, and the ability to automate changes at scale without opening Power BI Desktop at all.
Start experimenting with PBIP in your next project. Enable it in the preview features, save your file as a PBIP, and open the folder structure. You will immediately see the difference.
If you have questions or need help with Power BI development in your organization, reach out to us at RADACAD. We do consulting and training on Power BI and Microsoft Fabric, and we are always happy to help.
And if you found this helpful, subscribe to our YouTube channel — we publish weekly videos on Power BI, Microsoft Fabric, and AI.
Reza Rad is a Microsoft Regional Director, an Author, Trainer, Speaker and Consultant. He has a BSc in Computer engineering; he has more than 20 years’ experience in data analysis, BI, databases, programming, and development mostly on Microsoft technologies. He is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP for 12 continuous years (from 2011 till now) for his dedication in Microsoft BI. Reza is an active blogger and co-founder of RADACAD. Reza is also co-founder and co-organizer of Difinity conference in New Zealand, Power BI Summit, and Data Insight Summit.
Reza is author of more than 14 books on Microsoft Business Intelligence, most of these books are published under Power BI category. Among these are books such as Power BI DAX Simplified, Pro Power BI Architecture, Power BI from Rookie to Rock Star, Power Query books series, Row-Level Security in Power BI and etc.
He is an International Speaker in Microsoft Ignite, Microsoft Business Applications Summit, Data Insight Summit, PASS Summit, SQL Saturday and SQL user groups. And He is a Microsoft Certified Trainer.
Reza’s passion is to help you find the best data solution, he is Data enthusiast.
His articles on different aspects of technologies, especially on MS BI, can be found on his blog: https://radacad.com/blog.
