# ShapeChange XML models

SCXML - short for 'ShapeChange XML' - is an XML format for storing UML model information, and is defined by this XML Schema.

Note | The model format has originally been developed to encode the ShapeChange internal representation of a UML model in XML, for exchange with the Profile Management Tool. It has since been extended to serve a more general purpose as model format that can be processed by ShapeChange and other tools.

SCXML can be generated using the ShapeChange Model export target, from any other model format that is read by ShapeChange (directly or via an extension).

SCXML is especially useful for cases in which the model does not change anymore - e.g. when a particular release of the model has been finalized and published - because it can dramatically increase the speed of reading the model (e.g. when compared to reading the model from an Enterprise Architect repository).