All formats
OBJ vs FBX
OBJ is a simple static mesh with materials in a sidecar file, readable by anything. FBX is a full scene format with animation, rigs, cameras and lights, and is proprietary to Autodesk. Static props can stay OBJ; anything animated needs FBX or glTF.
Side by side
| Spec | OBJ | FBX |
|---|---|---|
| Type | 3D model | 3D model |
| Extensions | .obj | .fbx |
| Introduced | 1980s | 1996 |
| Compression | None | Both |
| MIME type | model/obj | application/octet-stream |
| Use it when | Moving static geometry between 3D applications that may not share a modern format. | Moving animated or rigged assets into a game engine. |
| Avoid it when | You need animation, or a single self-contained file. Use GLB. | Delivering to the web or AR, or printing. Convert to GLB or STL. |
Where the usual answer breaks
Version drift. FBX files written by a newer exporter often fail to import into older software, where OBJ never does.
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
FBX
- Carries rigs, skinned meshes, animation, cameras and lights
- The de facto standard for game engine asset pipelines
- Widely supported across professional 3D software
- Proprietary, with no fully open specification
- Version differences cause real interoperability problems
- Heavier than needed for simple static geometry
Tools for these formats
Local only
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.
OBJ → GLB
Local only
FBX to GLB Converter
Converts Autodesk FBX files, animation included, into GLB for three.js scenes, Unity and Godot projects, and AR pipelines.
FBX → GLB
Other comparisons
Last updated 2026-08-03