PLY to OBJ converter: the surface, as it is
Drop a .ply and get a zip with the .obj and its files, converted in Blender on our server. The trip keeps the geometry and nothing more; vertex colours cannot come along. Free, no account, nothing to install.
How do I convert PLY to OBJ?
Drop the file on this page, wait while the server converts it, and download a zip with the .obj and its files.
- 1Choose a .ply. Files up to 50 MB.
- 2The converter opens it in Blender on our server and writes OBJ. Most files take under a minute; the page shows the result in 3D when it is done.
- 3Download a zip with the .obj and its files. The upload and the result are deleted 3 days later.
- In:
- .ply, ASCII or binary
- Out:
- a zip with the .obj and its files
- Keeps:
- the geometry
- Cost:
- free, no account
- Vertex colours cannot be carried into OBJ.
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 zip with the .obj, its .mtl and the images the materials name, so unpacked into one folder it opens textured. OBJ has no room for a skeleton, shape keys or animation, so those stay behind.
PLY and OBJ do not hold the same things, and the page says so before you upload: the trip keeps the geometry and nothing more, and vertex colours cannot come along. OBJ is what every 3D program since the 1990s reads.
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.
No rig, no shape keys, no animation
OBJ stores a mesh and nothing that moves it. A skinned model is written in the pose its skeleton holds, as a statue; the bones, the weights and the blend shapes are not in the file because the format has no place for them.
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.
Why is the download a zip?
Because a textured OBJ is several files: the .obj, the .mtl and the images. Unpack them into one folder and keep them together; the .obj finds its materials by relative path.
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 OBJ
GLB in, OBJ out, free: zipped with its files.
FBX to OBJ
FBX in, OBJ out, free: zipped with its files.
OBJ to GLB
OBJ in, GLB out, free: one file.
STL to OBJ
STL in, OBJ out, free: zipped with its files.
PLY to GLB
PLY in, GLB out, free: one file.
PLY to FBX
PLY in, FBX out, free: one file.
DAE to OBJ
DAE in, OBJ out, free: zipped with its files.
USDZ to OBJ
USDZ in, OBJ out, free: zipped with its files.
OBJ to STL
OBJ in, STL out, free: one file.
OBJ to PLY
OBJ in, PLY out, free: one file.
OBJ to DAE
OBJ in, DAE out, free: zipped with its files.
OBJ to USDZ
OBJ 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 OBJ
3MF in, OBJ out, free: zipped with its files.
OBJ to 3MF
OBJ in, 3MF out, free: one file.
GLB to PLY
GLB in, PLY out, free: one file.
FBX to PLY
FBX 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