Which format should I choose

If you are not sure, export GLB. It is one file, it is compact, and it keeps the parts tree, the materials and the colours. The app’s own format sheet calls it the best all-round choice.

A web page or a web viewer

GLB. Switch on Draco compression only if the viewer you use can read it.

Cinema 4D

GLB. The app recommends it for Cinema 4D 2026.

Blender, Maya, 3ds Max, Houdini

FBX. These are the programs the app lists for it.

Unreal

FBX. The app lists Unreal under FBX.

Unity

The app does not name Unity for any format. FBX is the usual choice for game engines.

AR on an iPhone or iPad

USDZ, the format of Apple Quick Look.

3D printing

STL. Switch on Merge all parts into one mesh if the printer software wants one object.

A program that reads nothing else

OBJ. It is understood almost everywhere, but it carries no hierarchy: the tree is flattened into the names of the parts.

Research or scanning tools

PLY, which holds geometry and a colour for every vertex.

A list of parts for a spreadsheet

CSV.

Carrying on later in MeshOptimiser

Not an export at all: Save a scene.

What each format keeps

GLB and glTF

The parts tree, full materials, vertex colours.

FBX

The parts tree and materials. No vertex colours.

USDZ

The parts tree and materials. No vertex colours.

OBJ

Materials through a separate .mtl file. A flat list of parts, no tree.

STL

Geometry only, as a single mesh. No colours.

PLY

Geometry as a single mesh, with vertex colours.

CSV

No geometry.

Two settings that go with the format

• Scale. A CAD model is usually in millimetres. Many 3D programs and the glTF format work in metres. If the model arrives huge, export with × 0.001 (mm → m).
• Up axis. CAD uses Z as up. glTF, OBJ and Maya use Y. If the model arrives lying down, export with Y-up (glTF, OBJ, Maya).