FBX to STL Converter

3D print characters and props from Maya, 3ds Max, Blender or an asset store: FBX to STL at the real size the FBX declares, standing on the plate.

  • Files stay on your device
  • Free, no sign-up
  • Units and up axis handled
  • Batch and .zip

Drop an FBX file to convert

One file, many, or a .zip

In: STL · STEP · IGES · OBJ · 3MF · GLB · glTF · PLY · FBX · DAE · 3DS · AMF · VRML · ZIP

Converted on your device. Nothing is uploaded.

    How to convert FBX to STL

    1. Drop your FBX files

      Drop .fbx files (FBX 7.0 or newer, binary or ASCII) with any separate textures.

    2. Check the preview

      The model appears at the size and orientation it will have. Fix the file units, up axis or size under Size, units and orientation if needed.

    3. Choose STL options

      Binary STL by default (smallest, read everywhere). Tick ASCII only if an old tool asks for text STL.

    4. Convert and download

      One file downloads straight away. A batch gives a download per file and one .zip of all of them.

    What carries over from FBX to STL

    Worked out from what each format can store and what this converter writes. Nothing is changed silently: the preview shows the size and orientation before you download.

    Geometry Every face is kept; quads and n-gons are split into triangles.
    Color Dropped: STL cannot store color.
    Units Converted from the declared unit to millimetres, so it keeps its real size.
    Orientation Turned from Y up to Z up, so it stands on the plate in a slicer.
    Objects Merged into one surface: STL has no objects.
    Animation Dropped: the model is written in its rest pose.

    FBX to STL: what actually happens

    FBX declares how many centimetres one unit is; the converter applies that scale and writes millimetres, so a 30 cm character prints 300 mm tall unless you scale it. Y up becomes Z up for the slicer, and rigged characters come out in their bind pose.

    Materials, textures, skeletons and animation are dropped. Game characters are rarely watertight and often have separate eyes, teeth and hair cards, so check the mesh and repair it before printing.

    FBX at a glance

    Autodesk Filmbox · .fbx

    Stores
    Meshes, materials, textures, skeletons, animation, cameras
    Color
    Materials and textures, embedded or as separate files
    Units
    Declared as a scale factor, centimetres by default
    Up axis
    Usually Y
    File size
    Binary, large when textures are embedded
    Opens in
    Maya, 3ds Max, Blender, Unity, Unreal, Mixamo

    FBX began as Kaydara's FiLMBOX and has been owned by Autodesk since 2006. It is the standard for moving rigged, animated characters between DCC tools and game engines; the format is proprietary, so most tools read it through Autodesk's SDK or reverse-engineered readers.

    Open FBX files in the viewer

    STL at a glance

    Stereolithography (Standard Triangle Language) · .stl

    Stores
    Loose triangles: three corners and a normal each, binary or ASCII
    Color
    None in the standard
    Units
    None written; slicers assume millimetres
    Up axis
    Z, the slicer convention
    File size
    50 bytes per triangle in binary, about 5 times that as ASCII
    Opens in
    Every slicer, CAD tool and 3D app

    Created by 3D Systems in 1987 for the first stereolithography printers, STL is still the format every slicer and print service accepts. It describes a surface as a list of independent triangles, with no shared vertices, units, colors or scene structure.

    Open STL files in the viewer

    Tips for FBX to STL

    Scale for print

    Set the height in mm in the converter. A 28 mm or 32 mm miniature scale is a common target.

    Thin parts

    Hair cards and clothing are single surfaces with no thickness. Remove or thicken them in Blender first.

    Old FBX

    Files older than FBX 7.0 need re-exporting from Blender or Maya.

    FBX to STL FAQ

    Does FBX to STL keep the pose?
    It uses the bind pose stored in the file. To print another pose, pose the character in Blender and export that.

    Why is my STL the wrong size?
    Some FBX exporters write a unit scale that doesn't match the model. Set the file units or a target height in the converter.

    Are textures kept?
    No. STL stores only geometry. Use FBX to OBJ or FBX to GLB to keep them.

    Is the converter free? Are there limits?
    Free, with no sign-up, watermark or file count limit. Batches and files of a few hundred MB work on most laptops; the only limit is your device's memory.

    Are my files uploaded?
    No. Files are read and written by JavaScript and WebAssembly in your browser and never sent to PrintPal. The STEP and IGES reader is the only extra download, once, from a public CDN.