PLY Viewer

Open PLY files from 3D scanners, photogrammetry apps and MeshLab, as colored meshes or point clouds, without installing anything.

  • Files stay on your device
  • Free, no sign-up
  • Mesh check and printer fit
  • 14 formats

Drop a PLY file to view it

or

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

Opens on your device. Nothing is uploaded.

How to open a PLY file online

  1. Open the file

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

  2. Check size and orientation

    The model stands on the plate in millimetres. Switch to inches, or change the file units or up axis if it looks wrong.

  3. Run the checks

    Read the mesh check, pick your printer to see whether it fits, and use Measure (M) or Section (X) for a closer look.

  4. Save or convert

    Take a PNG screenshot, or save the model as STL, 3MF, OBJ, GLB, PLY or USDZ.

What you can check in PLY files

  • Colored meshes and point clouds, ASCII or binary
  • Size in mm or inches, with a fix for scans saved in metres
  • Watertight check: scans usually need hole filling before printing
  • Section view and measuring
  • Save as STL, OBJ (keeps vertex colors), GLB or PLY

About PLY files

PLY, the Stanford Polygon File Format, stores vertices with whatever properties the writer wants: positions, normals, colors, confidence. Scanners and photogrammetry tools use it because it handles colored meshes and point clouds alike, in ASCII or binary.

Files with faces open as a mesh; files without faces open as a point cloud. Gaussian splat .ply files from Polycam, Luma or Postshot are clouds of splats with extra properties, so they appear as points (usually without their colors, which splats store differently), not as a surface you could print.

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.

Tips for PLY files

Point cloud?

Points have no surface to print. Mesh them with Poisson reconstruction in MeshLab or CloudCompare, then convert the mesh.

Scan in metres

Phone and handheld scanners usually write metres. If the scan reads a few millimetres across, switch the file units to metres.

Lying down?

PLY has no fixed up axis. Switch between Y up and Z up until it stands.

PLY viewer FAQ

What is a PLY file?
The Polygon File Format from Stanford: a mesh or point cloud with per-vertex properties such as color. It is the usual output of 3D scanners and photogrammetry.

Can I 3D print a PLY file?
If it is a mesh, yes: convert it with PLY to STL, and check it is watertight first. Point clouds must be meshed before they can be printed.

Does it show vertex colors?
Yes. Colored meshes and point clouds are shown in their colors, and PLY to OBJ keeps them.

Is the viewer free? Are there limits?
Free, with no sign-up, watermark or file limit. The practical limit is your device's memory: files of a few hundred MB open on most laptops.

Are my files uploaded anywhere?
No. Files are read by JavaScript and WebAssembly in your browser and never sent to PrintPal. Only the code is downloaded, and the STEP and IGES reader once, from a public CDN.