Free online 3DS viewer

Drop a .3ds with the images from the same folder. The format stores texture names as eight upper-case characters; the viewer matches them to your files whatever their case.

Drop a .3ds file here with its textures

or click to choose. Add the texture images, the folder, or a .zip so the materials have something to show. Nothing is uploaded.

How to open a 3DS

Drop the .3ds together with its textures: select the model and the images, drop the folder, or drop the zip from the model library it came from.
Orbit and zoom. The model is taken as Z-up, as 3D Studio was; press Z-up / Y-up if this one was written otherwise.
Read the panel: objects, triangles and materials, and the texture list with found or missing beside each name.

A format from 1990

3DS stores meshes in chunks with 16-bit indices, so no single mesh holds more than 65,536 vertices; exporters split larger objects. Material names and texture file names are cut to eight characters and upper case, which is why TEXTURE.JPG in the file has to be matched to the texture.jpg on your disk. Smoothing groups, a camera and lights may be present; the viewer draws the meshes and their materials.

Limits

Animation keyframes are not played. A texture the file names and you did not drop shows as missing in the list, and the material is drawn flat.

Frequently asked questions

Can a 3DS model become an avatar?

Only after a rig: 3DS files from the model libraries are static meshes. Import into Blender, rig it, export FBX or GLB, and the FBX to VRM converter takes it from there.

Why are the texture names in capitals?

Because the format stores them that way, eight characters at most. The viewer matches them to your files without regard to case.

Some parts are missing.

Objects over 65,536 vertices were split or dropped by the exporter that wrote the file, not by the viewer.

Is it upside down?

3D Studio was Z-up and so is the view. Press Y-up for a file written by a tool that used Y.

Is the file uploaded?

No. Everything is read in your browser.

Can I convert it?

Not directly on this site. Open it in Blender and export FBX or GLB, then use the converters here.

Out of 3DS for good

Blender imports .3ds and exports GLB; from there the GLB viewer and every GLB pair on this site apply.