When a preference file is saved in EnSight, it is written to the user's private preferences directory (see the section introduction for path details). The format of these file is actually EnSight command language. In most cases, the files end with the .def suffix. An example would be the file: ensight_performance_prefs.def. After saving the preference, the file is created and contains:

VERSION 10.200000 
prefs: minimize_redraw OFF 
prefs: cull_lines OFF 
prefs: static_fast_display OFF 
prefs: transparency_sort depth_peel 
prefs: number_of_peels 5 
prefs: fastdisplay_point_res 1 
prefs: fastdisplay_sparse_res 50 
prefs: abort_server_time 0 
prefs: abort_server_operations OFF