PLY to OBJ Converter

Bring scans into 3D apps that read OBJ, with the vertex colors kept in the OBJ.

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

Drop a PLY 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 PLY to OBJ

    1. Drop your PLY files

      Drop .ply meshes or point clouds, ASCII or binary.

    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 OBJ options

      Keep materials on to get a .zip with the .obj, its .mtl and textures. Pick the up axis: Y for Blender and game engines, Z for slicers and CAD.

    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 PLY to OBJ

    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 Kept: material colors and textures go in a .mtl with PNG textures (you get a .zip); vertex colors are written into the OBJ.
    Units Neither format stores units, so the numbers pass through unchanged.
    Orientation Kept the way the PLY had it. Switch to Y up (Blender, game engines) or Z up (slicers, CAD) in the options.
    Objects Each part stays a separate object or mesh.

    PLY to OBJ: what actually happens

    PLY is the native output of scanners; OBJ is read by almost every 3D app. The converter keeps every face and writes the vertex colors into the OBJ's vertex lines, an extension MeshLab and many other tools read.

    Units and orientation pass through as they were. If your app ignores OBJ vertex colors, convert to GLB or keep the PLY: both store vertex colors officially.

    PLY at a glance

    Polygon File Format (Stanford Triangle Format) · .ply

    Stores
    Vertices with any properties, optional faces; ASCII or binary
    Color
    Per-vertex colors
    Units
    None; scanners usually write metres
    Up axis
    Varies with the scanner or app
    File size
    Binary is compact; ASCII is several times larger
    Opens in
    MeshLab, CloudCompare, Blender, scanning and photogrammetry software

    Greg Turk designed PLY at Stanford in the 1990s for 3D scan data, and it is still what scanners, photogrammetry tools and MeshLab write. It can hold a colored mesh or a bare point cloud, and Gaussian splat captures reuse it for splats.

    Open PLY files in the viewer

    OBJ at a glance

    Wavefront OBJ · .obj

    Stores
    Vertices, faces (triangles, quads, n-gons), UVs and normals as text
    Color
    Materials and textures in a separate .mtl file; vertex colors as an unofficial extension
    Units
    None, the numbers are bare
    Up axis
    Y by convention (Blender, Maya, most 3D apps)
    File size
    Text: about a binary STL's size for bare geometry, up to twice that with UVs and normals
    Opens in
    Blender, Maya, 3ds Max, ZBrush, Cinema 4D, game engines, most slicers

    OBJ came out of Wavefront Technologies' animation software and became the plain-text lingua franca of 3D. The geometry is in the .obj; colors and texture references live in a companion .mtl file, which is why OBJs so often arrive grey.

    Open OBJ files in the viewer

    Tips for PLY to OBJ

    Colors not showing?

    Not every app reads OBJ vertex colors. GLB keeps them everywhere.

    Up axis

    Pick Y up or Z up in the options to match your app.

    Point clouds

    OBJ needs faces; mesh the cloud first.

    PLY to OBJ FAQ

    Does PLY to OBJ keep colors?
    Yes, as per-vertex colors in the OBJ (v x y z r g b).

    Can I convert a point cloud to OBJ?
    No, OBJ needs faces. Mesh the cloud first.

    Will the OBJ be bigger?
    Yes, OBJ is text. Expect two to four times a binary PLY.

    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.