Convert STL to PLY
Convert an STL into a PLY for scan-processing and point-cloud tools.
Free, no account, up to 50 MB per file. Uploads are private and deleted after 24 hours unless you sign in, which claims them and keeps them for 7 days.
What survives STL → PLY
- Geometry
What is not carried across
- Nothing — an STL carries only triangles, and PLY stores those.
About STL files
- STL stores triangles and nothing else — no materials, no textures, no UVs, no colours, and no object names.
- STL has no unit declaration. The numbers are carried across unchanged, so a model authored in millimetres stays in millimetres.
- Normals are recomputed from the triangles rather than trusted from the file, which is what removes the faceting some exporters bake in.
Why PLY
- Carries per-vertex colours, which most interchange formats drop.
- Widely read by photogrammetry and scan-processing tools.
Common problems
- The PLY has no vertex colours.
- The STL had none to carry. PLY can store colours, but nothing can invent them.
After converting
Converting changes the container, not the geometry — a heavy model stays heavy. If the result is destined for the web or a game engine, reducing its triangle count is the part that makes it load faster.