PLY to FBX converter: vertex colours where the file has them kept
Drop a .ply and get one .fbx file, converted in Blender on our server. The trip keeps vertex colours where the file has them; nothing the source holds is lost on the way. Free, no account, nothing to install.
How do I convert PLY to FBX?
Drop the file on this page, wait while the server converts it, and download one .fbx file.
- 1Choose a .ply. Files up to 50 MB.
- 2The converter opens it in Blender on our server and writes FBX. Most files take under a minute; the page shows the result in 3D when it is done.
- 3Download one .fbx file. The upload and the result are deleted 3 days later.
- In:
- .ply, ASCII or binary
- Out:
- one .fbx file
- Keeps:
- vertex colours where the file has them
- Cost:
- free, no account
What survives the trip
A PLY holds a mesh or a point cloud with per-vertex colour, ASCII or binary. A file with points and no faces is refused rather than converted into an empty model: every target here stores surfaces, and turning points into one is reconstruction, not conversion.
The result is a binary FBX with the mesh, and the materials and images where the source has them, embedded in the file so it travels as one piece. The source has no skeleton, so none is written.
PLY and FBX do not hold the same things, and the page says so before you upload: the trip keeps vertex colours where the file has them, and nothing the source holds is lost on the way. FBX is what Unity, Unreal, Maya, 3ds Max and Blender open natively.
What this conversion cannot do
Measured on real files, not assumed. Everything below is a property of the formats or of the pipeline, and knowing it beforehand is cheaper than discovering it in your 3D tool.
A point cloud is refused
Many scanners write a PLY with points and no faces. There is no surface to carry into a mesh format, so the converter stops with a message. Reconstruct a surface first (Poisson or ball pivoting in MeshLab or CloudCompare), then convert.
An FBX names its textures by path when they are not embedded
We embed every image we have, so the file opens textured wherever it goes. An image the source never contained cannot be embedded; the material then names it by file name and your 3D tool asks for it.
Uploads stop at 50 MB
A larger file is refused before anything is uploaded. Decimate a dense mesh or shrink the textures in your 3D tool first; neither changes the format.
Frequently asked questions
Does the unit survive?
PLY has no unit field, so the numbers are copied as they are. A program that works in metres reads a scan stored in millimetres a thousand times too large; scale it by 0.001 where you open it.
Will Unity and Unreal read the file?
Yes, as any FBX: the mesh, the materials and the embedded images come in. The source has no skeleton, so there is nothing to map onto a humanoid.
Is anything uploaded, and for how long?
Yes: the file you drop goes to our server in New York, is converted there, and both the upload and the result are deleted 3 days after the conversion. Nothing is shared with anyone.
Can I look at the PLY first?
Yes, without uploading anything: the PLY viewer draws it in your browser. Open the PLY viewer →
Can this become a VTuber avatar?
Not as it is: an avatar needs a skeleton, skin weights and a face that moves, and a .ply has none of them. Rig and texture the model in Blender first, then convert the rigged file to VRM.
The other format pairs
All 50 are free, all run the same pipeline, and all say what they drop.
GLB to FBX
GLB in, FBX out, free: one file.
FBX to GLB
FBX in, GLB out, free: one file.
FBX to OBJ
FBX in, OBJ out, free: zipped with its files.
Blender (.blend) to FBX
Blender (.blend) in, FBX out, free: one file.
STL to FBX
STL in, FBX out, free: one file.
PLY to GLB
PLY in, GLB out, free: one file.
PLY to OBJ
PLY in, OBJ out, free: zipped with its files.
DAE to FBX
DAE in, FBX out, free: one file.
USDZ to FBX
USDZ in, FBX out, free: one file.
FBX to STL
FBX in, STL out, free: one file.
FBX to PLY
FBX in, PLY out, free: one file.
FBX to DAE
FBX in, DAE out, free: zipped with its files.
FBX to USDZ
FBX in, USDZ out, free: one file.
PLY to STL
PLY in, STL out, free: one file.
PLY to DAE
PLY in, DAE out, free: zipped with its files.
PLY to USDZ
PLY in, USDZ out, free: one file.
3MF to FBX
3MF in, FBX out, free: one file.
FBX to 3MF
FBX in, 3MF out, free: one file.
GLB to PLY
GLB in, PLY out, free: one file.
OBJ to PLY
OBJ in, PLY out, free: one file.
STL to PLY
STL in, PLY out, free: one file.
DAE to PLY
DAE in, PLY out, free: one file.
USDZ to PLY
USDZ in, PLY out, free: one file.
Only want to look at the file? GLB viewer, FBX viewer and OBJ viewer all run on your own device — nothing is uploaded.
Is your model going into VTubing?
A .ply is a surface without a skeleton, so no converter can make a VRM avatar out of it directly. Rigged and textured in Blender, the same model converts to VRM on the FBX to VRM converter, with the bones mapped onto the VRM humanoid.
Open the VRM converter