What is a DACPAC file?

A file with .dacpac (stands for Data Tier AppliCation Package) extension is a database file, created with Microsoft SQL Server data tier application, that contains the database model for representation of database objects. As it contains the complete model of the database, it is used to restore a database from the details available in the model. DACPAC files are usually handed over to deployment teams for installation at customer’s premises to restore database. These can be opened with Microsoft SQL Server 2019.

DACPAC File Format - More Information

The DACPAC data package files are actually compressed ZIP files that contains several XML files containing information about the database model, such as tables and views, used to restore a database. In order to view the contents of DACPAC files, rename the files from .dacpac to .zip and extract the zip archive using any decompression utility.

Following are few files that are found inside a DACPAC file.

  • [Content_Types].xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Types
   xmlns="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/package/2006/content-types">
   <Default Extension="xml" ContentType="text/xml" />
</Types>
  • DacMetadata.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<DacType xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/dac/Serialization/2012/02">
 <Name>CRM</Name>
 <Version>1.0.0.0</Version>
</DacType>

  • Origin.xml

  • model.xml

It is to be noted that DACPAC does not contain DATA and other server-level objects. The file can contains all object types which might be kept in SSDT project.

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