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3DAI
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Convert PLY to GLB

PLY is what 3D scanners, photogrammetry apps, MeshLab and many AI 3D tools write, often with a colour per vertex instead of a texture. GLB is what web viewers, AR and game engines open. This page converts a PLY mesh with its colours, or a point cloud as coloured points, on your device.

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How to use it

  1. 1

    Add the .ply

    Drop it onto the box or click to choose it. ASCII and binary PLY both work, up to 100 MB.

  2. 2

    Check the preview

    The info panel says whether it is a mesh or a point cloud and whether vertex colours were found.

  3. 3

    Set scale and axis

    GLB is in metres. Pick a scale if the scan is in millimetres, and rotate it if it lies on its back.

  4. 4

    Download the GLB

    Vertex colours are written as glTF COLOR_0, which three.js, Blender and model-viewer display.

What to know before you convert

  • Texture images referenced by a PLY are not read. Colours stored per vertex or per face are kept.
  • A point cloud stays a point cloud (glTF points). It is not turned into a surface; some viewers show points as small dots or not at all.
  • Gaussian splat PLYs are converted to points with each splat's base colour. The splat shapes, view-dependent colour and transparency are dropped.
  • Faces with more than four corners are skipped. Extra PLY properties such as confidence or curvature are not kept.

Don't have a model?

Create one with AI from a photo, a sentence or a sketch. The generators use credits; this converter is free and stays in your browser.

Image to 3D →Turn one photo into a textured 3D model.Text to 3D →Describe an object and get a GLB.Sketch to STL →Draw it, get a printable model.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. 8-bit and float colours are read and written into the GLB as vertex colours (COLOR_0), so the model looks the same in three.js, Blender, model-viewer and most engines.
Yes. Other converters refuse point clouds; here they are written as glTF points with their colours. If you need a surface, mesh the points first in MeshLab or CloudCompare (for example Poisson reconstruction).
The page detects splat files and turns each splat into a coloured point using its base colour. That gives a usable preview cloud, but not the soft look of a splat renderer.
glTF uses metres. Phone scanners usually save metres already; desktop scanners and MeshLab files are often in millimetres, so pick the millimetres to metres scale.
Use our PLY to STL converter. STL needs a closed surface and drops colours, so it only works for PLY meshes, not point clouds.
No. The page reads the file and converts it inside your browser with the open-source three.js library. Nothing is sent to our servers, there is no account, and no credits are used. Closing the tab discards everything.