Windows metafiles contain drawing information for reproducing vector images. Metafiles conserve the symbol, line style, fill, and text information of objects as Windows drawing commands. Because of this, Windows metafiles can be rescaled in the receiving application without any distortion or loss of resolution.
Metafiles use a coordinate system based on screen coordinates, and do not contain true "map" or real-world coordinates. You can re-impose a world coordinate system on an imported metafile image using the Map | Coordinate Conversion command. In this case, you need at least three control points in the metafile. Control points are points for which you know the world coordinates. If you need to preserve the world coordinates in a file upon export, you should export to a format that stores coordinates, such as .GSB, .BNA, .DXF, .SHP, .BLN, or .GSI formats for file export.
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