PLY to STL converter: the surface, as it is
Drop a .ply and get one .stl file, 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 STL?
Drop the file on this page, wait while the server converts it, and download one .stl file.
- 1Choose a .ply. Files up to 50 MB.
- 2The converter opens it in Blender on our server and writes STL. Most files take under a minute; the page shows the result in 3D when it is done.
- 3Download one .stl file. The upload and the result are deleted 3 days later.
- In:
- .ply, ASCII or binary
- Out:
- one .stl file
- Keeps:
- the geometry
- Cost:
- free, no account
- Vertex colours cannot be carried into STL.
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 STL of every mesh in the file, merged into one solid, written in the pose the model holds. Materials, textures, bones and shape keys do not exist in STL and are not written.
PLY and STL 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. STL is what every slicer and every CAD tool 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.
Converted is not the same as printable
Nothing is repaired, thickened or made watertight. A model built for rendering is a set of open shells, and a slicer will show the holes. That is a modelling job or the repair step in your slicer, not a format conversion.
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.
My model has several parts. Do I get several files?
No, one STL with every mesh in it. Split it in your slicer or 3D tool if you want the parts apart.
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.
STL to GLB
STL in, GLB out, free: one file.
STL to FBX
STL in, FBX 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.
PLY to OBJ
PLY in, OBJ out, free: zipped with its files.
GLB to STL
GLB in, STL out, free: one file.
FBX to STL
FBX in, STL out, free: one file.
OBJ to STL
OBJ in, STL out, free: one file.
STL to PLY
STL in, PLY out, free: one file.
STL to DAE
STL in, DAE out, free: zipped with its files.
STL to USDZ
STL in, USDZ 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.
DAE to STL
DAE in, STL out, free: one file.
USDZ to STL
USDZ in, STL out, free: one file.
3MF to STL
3MF in, STL out, free: one file.
STL to 3MF
STL 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.
OBJ to PLY
OBJ 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