Reduce 3D Model Polygon Count

Turn heavy scans and mesh exports into light assets for the web and game engines, one file or a whole folder at a time.

One command keeps the share of triangles you choose: --decimate 0.25 keeps about a quarter. It works on OBJ, STL, PLY, glTF/GLB, FBX, 3MF, Collada and OFF meshes of up to 2 million triangles. Reduction is a cadconvert CLI option; the desktop app has no control for it.

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Free trial: 10 conversions with every feature. No credit card required. Windows 10/11.

Heavy Meshes, Slow Workflows

Without 3D CAD Converter

Scans and mesh exports with hundreds of thousands of triangles that slow down web viewers and engines
Opening Blender or MeshLab and decimating one file at a time
Online reducers that cap file size or upload your models to a server
STEP and IGES parts that turn into far more triangles than a web viewer needs

With 3D CAD Converter

Reduce OBJ, STL, PLY, glTF, FBX and 3MF meshes in one tool. STEP and IGES are meshed at the density you choose instead: --quality draft gives the fewest triangles
One ratio applied to a whole folder with cadconvert batch
Quadric edge collapse keeps the shape while the triangle count drops
Everything runs offline on your machine — nothing leaves your disk

What You Get

Target Ratio Control

Give the share of triangles to keep, as 0.25 or 25%. A mesh over 2 million triangles is saved unreduced, and so is one where reduction would leave less than half of what you asked for. The command tells you when that happens.

Shape-Preserving

The cheapest edges collapse first, so flat areas lose triangles before curved ones, and open borders stay open.

Batch Hundreds of Files

Apply the same reduction to a whole asset folder in one run with cadconvert batch, for LOD prep or web export.

CLI Automation

Add --decimate to a build script and regenerate light assets whenever the source files change.

Automate It

# Reduce an OBJ to 25% of its triangles, export glTF

cadconvert convert model.obj -f gltf --decimate 0.25
# Batch a folder of meshes to GLB with 20% of their triangles

cadconvert batch ./meshes -f glb --decimate 0.2

How It Works

Download & Install

Free trial: 10 conversions with every feature. Windows 10/11.

Add --decimate to the command

Pick the output format with -f and the share of triangles to keep, for example --decimate 0.25. Give a folder instead of a file to reduce every mesh in it.

Check the result

cadconvert info prints the triangle count of the source and of the reduced file. A folder batch without an output path writes to meshes_converted next to the input folder.

Stop Paying Annual Subscriptions

Tool	Price	Model
CAD Exchanger	~~$590/year~~	Subscription (annual renewal)
Simplygon / RapidPipeline	~~$$$/year~~	Subscription (annual renewal)
3D CAD Converter	$179	✔ Pay once, own forever

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Free trial: 10 conversions with every feature. No credit card required. Windows 10/11.