Convert glTF to OBJ
Free glTF to OBJ converter that runs in your browser. See real dimensions before you download.
How to convert glTF to OBJ
- Drop your glTF file (with its textures, if separate) onto the converter — it opens in your browser, nothing is uploaded.
- Check the preview and the dimensions in mm; fix units or the up axis in “Units & orientation” if the size or orientation looks wrong.
- Choose OBJ as the output and click Convert. Several files download as one ZIP.
What carries over from glTF to OBJ
| glTF | OBJ | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colour / materials | Yes | Yes | Kept |
| Textures | Yes | Yes | Kept |
| Units stored in file | Yes | No | Numbers in mm |
| Separate parts | Yes | Yes | Kept |
| Usual up axis | Y | Y | Unchanged |
About glTF files
glTF was developed by the Khronos Group, the body behind OpenGL and Vulkan, and version 2.0 was released in 2017 and later adopted as ISO/IEC 12113. The design goal was a lean transmission format that engines can load without heavy processing. In its text form, a .gltf file is JSON that lists scenes, nodes, meshes, materials, animations and accessors, and it points to external .bin buffers and image files, though buffers can also be embedded as base64 data. The same content packed into one file is called GLB. Because the JSON is readable, glTF is popular for tooling, pipelines and debugging, and for projects that want to diff or hand-edit assets. It uses metres, a right-handed coordinate system and +Y up, and its physically based materials are supported by most web and game engines.
About OBJ files
OBJ comes from Wavefront Technologies' Advanced Visualizer software in the 1980s, and it has outlived the product. A file is plain text: lines starting with v define vertices, vt texture coordinates, vn normals, and f faces that reference those lists by index. Faces may be triangles, quads or larger polygons, and the g and o keywords group faces into named objects. Appearance is not in the OBJ at all; a line called mtllib points to a separate .mtl file that lists materials with diffuse colours and texture image names. The format is verbose, has no official unit and no scene hierarchy or animation, but it is trivial to read and write. That is why scanners, photogrammetry tools, sculpting programs and game pipelines still use it to move static meshes around.
3D printing notes
glTF is a display format, so a slicer will not open it. Convert it to STL or 3MF first. As with GLB, the main traps are metres versus millimetres and the Y-up axis. A character exported from a game pipeline can also contain separate shells for eyes, clothing and hair that overlap; slicers see overlapping volumes and may print them unevenly. MeshShift reads glTF in the browser, shows dimensions, applies the ×1000 metre-to-millimetre scale by default, and rotates the model upright. The print check rebuilds a single closed solid when you need one. When writing glTF, MeshShift embeds the buffers, so the output is a single self-contained file.
Frequently asked questions
Is this glTF to OBJ converter free and private?
Yes. The conversion runs in your browser with JavaScript and WebAssembly, so your glTF file is never uploaded to a server. There is no sign-up, no watermark and no daily limit; very large files are limited only by your device's memory.
Should I use glTF or GLB?
Choose GLB when you want to share, upload or ship one file with textures inside. Choose glTF when you need to read or edit the JSON, keep textures separate, or let a version control system show changes. Both are the same standard and convert losslessly.
Why does my OBJ import without its colours or textures?
The colour information is in a separate .mtl file and image files. If the MTL or textures are missing, renamed or in another folder, the importer shows plain grey geometry. Keep the OBJ, MTL and images together, or convert to GLB, which packs them in one file.