This post here talks about a couple of free BRD file viewer websites that you can use. Here you can upload a BRD file and view it easily without any sign up or registration. These websites offer a very nice UI where you can visualize any BRD file and analyze it using the different visualization tools that they offer. One of these can even edit BRD file that you upload and export it after making changes to it in different other formats.
BRD files are nothing but a kind of design files created by Autodesk Eagle. They generally contain the PCB design which is compatible with the Gerber files. But Gerber files can be viewed in a lot of online tools, however this is not the case with BRD files. There are very few online viewers which can open BRD files and I only managed to find 2 which are listed here.
2 Free Online BRD File Viewer Websites
EasyEDA
EasyEDA is one of the best free online tools to open and view BRD files. Here you can just upload a self-contained BRD file or library BRD file and it will open that in an editable workspace. You can make changes in the design and view it in any way you want. However, you cannot save the changes in the same BRD file. To save the changes, you will have to export that BRD file in another format such as PDF, PNG, SVG, EasyEDA, and some others.
In order to use the online BRD file viewer of EasyEDA, you will have to create a free account. After that, you just upload a BRD file using the Open > Eagle menu. But do note that, you will be only able to upload and view BRD files when you are in simulation mode. So, before uploading the file, just switch to the simulation mode and then upload the file. If you don’t select the simulation mode, the Eagle option in Open menu will not appear.
After it opens your files in the viewer, you can visualize it from any angle. You can zoom in the design and analyze the various components of the PCB design. Also, you can make changes in the nodes and circuits if you want to. It offers a lot of editing and manipulation tools that you can use to make changes in the design. All those tools are available in the toolbox. After you are done, you can simply export the design using the File > Export menu.
Altium Viewer
Altium Viewer is another free online BRD files viewer that you can use. Here it works pretty much in the same way as the tool above. However, here you will not get the editing options. Here you can only upload a BRD file and then view it in a read only mode. You can zoom in the broad design to visualize various components, or do whatever you want. This is simple and there is no sign up or registration required to use it.
Just go to this BRD files viewer from the above link and then simply upload a BRD file. Do note that, it doesn’t support library BRD files. You can only open self-contained BRD files here and it will open it like an image where you can use different viewing tools to analyze the design. This is as simple as that.
This BRD file viewer is useful in case you just want to quickly open and view a BRD file without installing anything. Just upload a BRD file and it will open that for you quickly. And you can also see information about the various components in the PCB design you are viewing in BRD. Just click on any component and it will show details about it in the right sidebar.
Closing thoughts:
These are the best free online BRD file viewer tools that I could find. You can use any of these to quickly upload and open BRD files. If you are into Electronics related line of work where you have to work with PCB designs, then you may find these helpful. In my opinion, you will be better off with EasyEDA as it also lets you modify a BRD file by altering the PCB design that it contains. Or, you can use just stick to Altium Viewer if you just want to open and view BRD file.
