Understanding Power BI Project Files

Power BI’s new Project (PBIP) file allows developers to save reports and semantic models into a folder structure and text files that can be used with source control systems like GitHub. The illustration shows a screenshot of an original PBIX file (top) and the converted PBIP file and folders, which provide the files and structure required for working with a source control system.

Project Files and Folders

Power BI Desktop automatically creates and manages the PBIP file (top) and associated folder structure and files that are divided into two parts: report (middle) and semantic model (bottom).

PBIP file (shown as PBI Stock Analysis Project 2025-01.PBIP) holds project metadata and is used by Power BI Desktop to locate the folders and content.

Report folders (shown under PBI Stock Analysis Project 2025-01.Report) contain JSON files with information describing the report pages, visuals used on each page, configuration and filter settings, and other information.

Semantic model folders (shown under PBI Stock Analysis Project 2025-01.SemanticModel) contain text-based Tabular Model Definition Language (TMDL) files that describe the databases, tables, relationships, measures, and other information about the semantic model. TMDL is a new Analysis Services model language that was released in mid-2024 and is better suited to the way source control repositories work than the existing Tabular Model Scripting Language (TMSL). TMDL is available for use with semantic models in Power BI, SQL Server 2016 and newer, and Azure Analysis Services.