Format Guide
The rendering community's mesh format — UV mapping, multi-material groups, and near-universal software support.
Download Free TrialFree 30-day trial. No credit card required. Windows 10/11.
| Extension | .obj (+ .mtl for materials) |
|---|---|
| Full name | Wavefront Object |
| Geometry type | Polygon mesh (triangles, quads, n-gons) |
| Open standard | Yes |
| Supports color | Via MTL material file |
| Supports UV mapping | Yes |
| Supports assemblies | No (groups only) |
| Encoding | ASCII text |
OBJ (Wavefront Object) was developed by Wavefront Technologies in the late 1980s. It is a simple ASCII text format that stores polygon meshes with vertex positions, UV texture coordinates, and vertex normals. Material definitions are stored in a companion .MTL file that references texture images. OBJ supports polygonal faces (triangles, quads, n-gons), making it flexible for both CAD geometry and organic 3D art. Because it is a plain text format with no proprietary restrictions, OBJ has become one of the most universally supported interchange formats across rendering, game development, and visualization tools.
OBJ is the standard input for offline renderers (Blender Cycles, V-Ray, Arnold) and real-time visualization tools. UV coordinates enable photorealistic material and texture mapping.
Unity, Unreal Engine, and Godot all import OBJ. For static props and architectural elements without animation, OBJ is a clean, dependency-free alternative to FBX.
Photogrammetry software (Agisoft Metashape, RealityCapture, Polycam) exports to OBJ because the format preserves UV maps needed for baked texture maps.
Blender, Maya, 3ds Max, Cinema 4D, ZBrush, Houdini, Unity, Unreal Engine, SolidWorks, Fusion 360, and virtually all 3D tools.
Commonly converted from STEP or IGES (for visualization), to FBX (for animation rigs), to glTF/GLB (for web and AR), or to STL (for 3D printing).