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RuiRomanoMS
Microsoft Employee
‎11-17-2025 07:00 AM

PBIR will become the default Power BI Report Format - Get Ready for the Transition

Update 2025-03-26:

  • PBIR in Power BI Desktop: PBIR as the default format for both PBIX and PBIP file formats has been delayed to the May Power BI Desktop release. Until then, users must continue to manually enable the PBIR preview feature in Desktop. 
  • PBIR in Power BI Service: The rollout of PBIR as the default format began in January and is expected to be completed by the end of April. New reports created in the service already use PBIR. Automatic upgrades are still rolling out gradually, this rollout is based on report size - for example, as of March 2026, only reports with fewer than 100 visuals are eligible for automatic upgrade when edited in the service. 

The Power BI Enhanced Report Format (PBIR) represents a major leap forward - empowering developers and teams to integrate source control, CI/CD, and collaborative development while enabling AI agents and scripts to programmatically create, edit, and manage Power BI reports in a fully supported way. Refer to the PBIR documentation to learn more.

PBIR_will_become_the_default_Power_BI_Report_Format_-_Get_Ready_for_the_TransitiPBIR_will_become_the_default_Power_BI_Report_Format_-_Get_Ready_for_the_Transiti

Since its initial release, conversion to PBIR has been optional and available only through Power BI Desktop. Beginning in January 2026, all new reports created in the Power BI service will use the PBIR format by default, with the rollout starting in January and completing by the end of February. Existing service reports will be automatically converted to PBIR when edited and saved. Power BI Desktop will begin using PBIR as the default format with the March 2026 release.

If you prefer to keep using the PBIR-Legacy report format during the preview, you can opt out.

  • In Power BI Desktop, disable the Preview Features.
    • Store reports using enhanced metadata format (PBIR) and Store PBIX reports using enhanced metadata format (PBIR).
  • In Service, disable the new Admin Tenant Setting.
    • Automatically convert and store reports in the Power BI enhanced metadata format (PBIR). The tenant setting is available now but won’t take effect until January 2026.

When PBIR reaches General Availability (GA), it will become the only supported report format. All reports will automatically convert to the PBIR format, and PBIR-Legacy will no longer be supported. We recommend preparing for this migration ahead of GA.

Defaulting to PBIR is an important milestone for General Availability of the broader Power BI Project (PBIP) file format. PBIP is built around a key principle: providing code-friendly file formats, something not possible with PBIR-Legacy. General Availability for PBIP is planned for 2026.

What about PBIX files?

PBIX files are - and will remain - the primary file format for Power BI developers. For PBIX users, this upgrade will be completely silent, with no impact on their experience. However, this change affects how the Power BI report is stored inside the PBIX. Instead of using the PBIR-Legacy format, PBIX will use the PBIR format, bringing full parity between PBIX and PBIP file structures for report metadata.

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