Convert IGES to OBJ
Free IGES to OBJ converter that runs in your browser. See real dimensions before you download.
How to convert IGES to OBJ
- Drop your IGES file 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 IGES to OBJ
| IGES | OBJ | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colour / materials | No | Yes | — |
| Textures | No | Yes | — |
| Units stored in file | Yes | No | Numbers in mm |
| Separate parts | Yes | Yes | Kept |
| Usual up axis | Z | Y | Rotated (switchable) |
About IGES files
IGES was first published in 1980 by the US National Bureau of Standards, with participation from Boeing, General Electric and others, as one of the earliest standards for moving CAD data between different systems. Files use the .igs or .iges extension and are fixed-width 80-column text records divided into Start, Global, Directory Entry, Parameter Data and Terminate sections, a layout that reflects its punched-card heritage. IGES describes wireframe curves, trimmed and untrimmed NURBS surfaces, and, in later revisions, solids, but in practice it is mostly used for surface data. The format has not been updated since version 5.3 in 1996; STEP replaced it as the preferred standard. Even so, aerospace, automotive and tooling companies keep large IGES archives, and some CAM and surface-modelling programs still ask for it.
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
IGES is not a printing format, and slicers do not open it. The file must be tessellated to STL or 3MF first, and the surface-only nature of many IGES files creates the main difficulty: if patches are not stitched into a closed shell, the resulting mesh has holes and slicers report it as non-manifold. When that happens, stitch or sew the surfaces in your CAD program, or run a mesh repair afterwards. MeshShift reads IGES and IGS through OpenCascade in the browser, with draft, normal or fine tessellation, and then offers the print check to find open edges and rebuild a closed solid at the same size. It does not write IGES; STEP is the better target for CAD.
Frequently asked questions
Is this IGES to OBJ converter free and private?
Yes. The conversion runs in your browser with JavaScript and WebAssembly, so your IGES 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.
Is IGES the same as IGS?
Yes. IGS is the three-letter extension used by systems that limited file names, and IGES is the full form. They contain the same data, and software that opens one will open the other, so renaming a .igs to .iges is safe.
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.