A metafile is a file in which graphics are stored. The file is application-created, and it contains the graphics orders generated from those GPI calls that are valid in a metafile. Metafiled graphics can be reused by the application that created them. They can also be made available to other applications at the same, or at a different, workstation.
This section describes the restrictions which apply when generating the metafile and gives detail of the overall structure. For the graphics orders descriptions, see "Graphics Orders" in the Graphics Programming Interface Programming Reference.