Employee and Director Stock Plans - Summary of Restricted Stock Award and Restricted Stock Unit Activity (Detail) - Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) and Performance Stock Units (PSUs) - $ / shares		12 Months Ended
		Jan. 31, 2017	Jan. 31, 2016	Jan. 31, 2015
Unreleased restricted stock
Unvested restricted stock units at January 31, 2016 (in shares)		7,739,600
Granted (in shares)		4,226,300
Vested (in shares)		(3,585,000)
Canceled/Forfeited (in shares)		(725,200)
Performance adjustment (in shares)	[1]	(33,300)
Unvested restricted stock at January 31, 2017 (in shares)		7,622,400	7,739,600
Weighted average grant date fair value
Beginning balance of unvested restricted stock units (in dollars per share)		$ 51.80
Granted (in dollars per share)		65.95	$ 52.53	$ 54.17
Vested (in dollars per share)		52.12
Canceled/Forfeited (in dollars per share)		53.25
Performance adjustment (in dollars per share)	[1]	63.74
Ending balance of unvested restricted stock (in dollars per share)		$ 60.13	$ 51.80
Percentage of the target award, minimum			86.10%
Percentage of the target award, maximum			98.00%

[1] Based on Autodesk's financial results and relative total stockholder return for the fiscal 2016 performance period. The performance stock units were attained at rates ranging from 86.1% to 98.0% of the target award.