Why do animation teams still standardise on FBX for hand-offs?

Because the alternatives lose data at both ends: glTF handles rigs well but some studio toolchains predate it, and everything else discards animation outright. FBX carries skeletons, blend shapes and baked clips in one package every Autodesk-adjacent tool opens, which keeps it the default despite its age.

My FBX imported without textures — what happened to them?

FBX either embeds media inside the file or references it by absolute path. Externally referenced textures break the moment the file leaves the artist's machine. Re-export with embedded media, or convert FBX to GLB here — the GLB writer inlines whatever textures it can find.

Which FBX version should I ask vendors to deliver?

FBX 2018 or newer is the safe request — older versions trip up modern importers on skin weights and material channels. When in doubt, have the vendor export FBX binary (not ASCII) and include textures embedded; both choices prevent the classic empty-material import.

Can a rigged character keep its skeleton after leaving FBX?

Yes, if the destination supports rigs: GLB and GLTF both carry skeletons and animation clips, so FBX→GLB is the standard route for browser and AR delivery. Geometry-only targets — OBJ, STL, PLY — flatten the character to its rest pose by design.

If Unreal imports FBX directly, why convert it at all?

The engine is one destination of many. Web players, AR quick-look, slicers and scan tools all reject FBX, and each iteration through a DCC app just to re-export costs time. Converting FBX to GLB (or OBJ/STL for static uses) once, in the browser, covers every non-Autodesk destination.

FBX Converter — Free, In-Browser

Open a FBX model, preview it, and send it to any of the five output formats — with a clear note of what each destination keeps.

Upload 3D Model

Drag and drop or click to upload. Translation runs locally in your browser.

Click or drag to upload

Reads GLB, GLTF, OBJ, STL, FBX, PLY

GLBGLTFOBJSTLFBXPLY

3D Preview

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Upload a 3D model to preview and translate it

Kept

Everything on the way out — mesh, materials, textures, skeletons and animation, as far as the target can hold them

Lost

Nothing at the source stage; losses happen per-target (for example OBJ and STL discard the rig)

Use for

Ingesting rigged, animated content from Maya/3ds Max pipelines into open formats

About the FBX format

FBX is the toll gate between animation toolchains: rigged characters, blend shapes and baked keyframes move through it because Autodesk's DCCs and most game pipelines speak it fluently. It is also closed — a proprietary spec with no complete open-source writer, which is why this converter reads FBX as a source but never emits it. In practice FBX files are the start of a journey: they arrive heavy, animation-ready and deeply tied to Autodesk conventions, and almost every downstream web, print or scan use-case means converting out.

Need the model itself?

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If you don't have a {target} file yet, 3D AI builds one from a text prompt or a reference photo and exports it ready for your pipeline. Free daily quota, no credit card.

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Take FBX to another format

One click pre-loads the converter with FBX as the source and your chosen target locked in.

FBX → GLB FBX → GLTF FBX → OBJ FBX → STL FBX → PLY

FBX is read-only here — the converter loads it as a source but never writes it back out, so it has no incoming conversion routes.

Where {fromName} files come from

Character and animation teams delivering between Maya, 3ds Max and MotionBuilder — FBX is their lingua franca
Marketplace and stock-3D sellers whose assets ship rigged and animated by default
Motion-capture retargeting exports, which bake skeletal data that only animation-capable formats preserve

Where {fromName} files go next

Web and AR: FBX→GLB keeps the rig and clips while making the asset browser-ready
Static-mesh destinations: FBX→OBJ or FBX→STL when the skeleton is irrelevant to the next step
Engine round-trips: Unreal reads FBX natively, but for anything web-adjacent the GLTF/GLB route is lighter

Every conversion route

Per-format pages and all 25 format-to-format paths — each one pre-configures the converter for that exact job.

FAQ