GLB vs OBJ
GLB is the modern answer: a single binary file carrying mesh, materials, textures, animation and PBR shading, designed for real-time engines and the web. OBJ is a 1992 text format with separate material and texture files and no animation. New work should use GLB.
Side by side
| Spec | GLB | OBJ |
|---|---|---|
| Type | 3D model | 3D model |
| Extensions | .glb | .obj |
| Introduced | 2017 | 1980s |
| Compression | Both | None |
| MIME type | model/gltf-binary | model/obj |
| Use it when | Showing a 3D model on the web, in a game engine, or in AR. | Moving static geometry between 3D applications that may not share a modern format. |
| Avoid it when | Printing the model (use STL) or continuing to author it in a DCC tool (use its native format). | You need animation, or a single self-contained file. Use GLB. |
Where the usual answer breaks
Older CAD and 3D packages that never gained glTF import. OBJ still opens in essentially everything.
GLB
- Everything in one file: meshes, PBR materials, textures, animation
- Designed for fast runtime loading, not for editing
- Native support in browsers, game engines and AR viewers
- Not an editing format; round-tripping through it loses authoring data
- Not accepted by 3D printing slicers
OBJ
- Read by almost every 3D application
- Plain text, so it is inspectable and diffable
- Supports UV coordinates and per-face materials
- No animation or skeletal data
- Materials live in a separate MTL file that is easily lost
- Large and slow to parse compared with binary formats
Tools for these formats
GLB to STL Converter
Pulls mesh geometry out of GLB or glTF files and exports clean, printable STL, handy for slicing software and 3D printers.
GLB to OBJ Converter
Extracts mesh geometry from GLB or glTF files and exports it as Wavefront OBJ for editing in older desktop 3D modeling tools.
OBJ to GLB Converter
Turns Wavefront OBJ meshes into GLB (glTF binary), the format most web viewers, Unity, Godot, and AR tools expect by default.
Other comparisons
Last updated 2026-08-03