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Polyforge

Free · Browser-side · No sign-up

Convert GLB to PLY Online

Convert GL Transmission Format Binary (GLB) files to Polygon File Format (PLY), entirely in your browser. No upload, no sign-up. Your files never leave your device.

No sign-up required 100% client-side Up to 100 MB
GLBPLY

Drop your GLB file here

or click to browse from your computer (up to 100 MB)

Car 3D model preview
Try with a sample modelCarCar by Polyforge · CC0 1.0 Universal

Detailed car model with PBR materials and textures.

$ per vertex color support

PLY stores color data directly on each vertex rather than relying on texture images or material definitions. This makes it the preferred format for 3D scans, photogrammetry captures, and point cloud data where color is baked into the geometry itself.

$ point cloud compatible

PLY natively represents both polygon meshes and raw point clouds without requiring faces. Research tools, LiDAR processing software, and scientific visualization applications like MeshLab and CloudCompare work with PLY as their primary exchange format.

$ lightweight single file

PLY stores geometry in a compact binary encoding with no external dependencies. There are no companion texture files, material libraries, or asset folders to manage, resulting in a clean single file output.

── GLB → PLY ──

How to Convert GLB to PLY

Drop your GLB file and get a PLY with vertex data in seconds.

01

Upload GLB

Drag and drop or select your .glb file. GLB is a self-contained binary format so a single file is all you need.

02

Processing

Conversion runs entirely in your browser. The scene geometry is extracted, vertex positions and normals are preserved, and the result is written as a binary PLY file. Your data never leaves your device.

03

Download PLY

Get your PLY file immediately. The result can be opened in MeshLab, CloudCompare, Blender, or any application that supports the PLY format.

$ why_convert

Why convert GLB to PLY?

GLB is the binary packaging of glTF 2.0, an open standard from the Khronos Group built for real time 3D rendering. It combines geometry, PBR materials, textures, animations, and scene hierarchy into a single optimized file. While this makes GLB ideal for web viewers, game engines, and AR applications, many scientific and research workflows need a simpler representation. Scanning pipelines, point cloud processors, and geometry analysis tools expect raw vertex data without the overhead of a full scene graph or material system.

PLY (Polygon File Format) was developed at the Stanford Computer Graphics Laboratory in the mid 1990s to store 3D data captured from range scanners. It represents meshes as lists of vertices and faces, with an extensible header that can declare arbitrary properties on each element. Unlike GLB, PLY does not encode materials, textures, or animations. Instead it focuses on geometric fidelity: vertex positions, normals, and per vertex colors are stored directly. This simplicity has made PLY the standard interchange format for 3D scanning, photogrammetry, and scientific visualization, where preserving raw measurement data matters more than rendering appearance.

Key advantages of PLY over GLB

Per vertex colors

PLY embeds color on each vertex natively, which is ideal for 3D scans and photogrammetry data that lack separate texture maps.

Point cloud support

PLY can store raw point clouds without face data, making it directly usable in LiDAR and depth sensor workflows.

Extensible properties

The PLY header supports custom per element properties like confidence, intensity, or scalar fields used in scientific analysis.

Scanning standard

PLY is the default output of most 3D scanners and the primary import format for MeshLab, CloudCompare, and similar tools.

Compact binary encoding

Binary PLY files store vertex data efficiently without the overhead of a scene graph, material system, or embedded textures.