STL to DAE converter: the surface, as it is
Drop an .stl and get a zip with the .dae and its files, converted in Blender on our server. The trip keeps the geometry and nothing more; nothing the source holds is lost on the way. Free, no account, nothing to install.
How do I convert STL to DAE?
Drop the file on this page, wait while the server converts it, and download a zip with the .dae and its files.
- 1Choose an .stl. Files up to 50 MB.
- 2The converter opens it in Blender on our server and writes DAE. Most files take under a minute; the page shows the result in 3D when it is done.
- 3Download a zip with the .dae and its files. The upload and the result are deleted 3 days later.
- In:
- .stl, ASCII or binary
- Out:
- a zip with the .dae and its files
- Keeps:
- the geometry
- Cost:
- free, no account
What survives the trip
An STL is a list of triangles and nothing else, ASCII or binary. There are no materials, no texture coordinates, no colours and no unit: the numbers are taken as they are. The Z-up of printing is turned so the part stands upright in Y-up formats.
The result is a zip with the .dae and the images its materials name, where the source has them: Collada 1.4.1, Z-up, one unit to the metre, triangulated. Only base-colour textures are written; normal and roughness maps have no place in the Collada writer. The source has no skeleton, so none is written.
STL and DAE do not hold the same things, and the page says so before you upload: the trip keeps the geometry and nothing more, and nothing the source holds is lost on the way. DAE is what SketchUp, Second Life and OpenSim uploads, and older engines and toolchains, still ask for.
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.
The numbers come through as they are; no unit is guessed
STL has no unit field. A part modelled as 100 millimetres is written as 100 units, and a program that works in metres reads it as a hundred metres tall. Scale it by 0.001 in the program you open it in.
Shape keys make a very large file
Collada is XML, and every shape key is a complete second copy of its mesh in text. A model with many shape keys produces a .dae ten times the size of the source. If the destination ignores morph targets, as most old Collada importers do, FBX or GLB serves better.
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
ASCII or binary STL?
Both are read. They hold the same triangles; the ASCII form is several times larger, so it reaches the upload limit with far fewer triangles.
When is Collada still the right target?
When the program on the other end takes little else: SketchUp, Second Life and OpenSim mesh upload, older game engines, some robotics and simulation packages. For anything current, FBX or GLB is the better road.
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 STL first?
Yes, without uploading anything: the STL viewer draws it in your browser. Open the STL viewer →
Can this become a VTuber avatar?
Not as it is: an avatar needs a skeleton, skin weights and a face that moves, and an .stl 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.
DAE to GLB
DAE in, GLB out, free: one file.
DAE to FBX
DAE in, FBX out, free: one file.
DAE to OBJ
DAE in, OBJ out, free: zipped with its files.
GLB to DAE
GLB in, DAE out, free: zipped with its files.
FBX to DAE
FBX in, DAE out, free: zipped with its files.
OBJ to DAE
OBJ in, DAE out, free: zipped with its files.
STL to PLY
STL in, PLY out, free: one file.
STL to USDZ
STL in, USDZ out, free: one file.
PLY to DAE
PLY in, DAE out, free: zipped with its files.
DAE to STL
DAE in, STL out, free: one file.
DAE to PLY
DAE in, PLY out, free: one file.
DAE to USDZ
DAE in, USDZ out, free: one file.
USDZ to DAE
USDZ in, DAE out, free: zipped with its files.
STL to 3MF
STL in, 3MF out, free: one file.
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.
PLY to STL
PLY 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.
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?
An .stl 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