IGES is a file format which has gained widespread use but has certain limitations such as limited information coverage and ambiguous definitions. In order to overcome the limitations of existing neutral file formats, STEP has been developed as a more comprehensive mechanism for product data exchange by ISO. This paper describes a file translation system between IGES and STEP. In this system, three EXPRESS schemata are defined for IGES, STEP and the translation relationship between IGES and STEP. Object codes are generated from the schemata and linked with file access libraries to IGES and STEP files. The translation was verified by visualization and reverse translation. The system developed in this study can easily applied to translate other file formats because the file structure and translation relationship are defined in EXPRESS - a high level information modeling language.