LOCAL FILE WORKBENCH
Convert a PLY Mesh to STL
Triangulate supported PLY polygons and export a binary STL without uploading your model.
Supported input and output
ASCII or little-endian PLY mesh input; binary STL output.
Faces are required for an STL surface
A PLY can describe a polygon surface or only a set of points. This tool requires face indices and triangulates supported simple planar polygons. RGB colors shown in the preview are not encoded in the STL, and no new surface is inferred between unconnected scan points.
How to use this tool
- Choose a PLY mesh and inspect its preview.
- Review color loss and coordinate units.
- Convert to STL and download.
Limitations to check
- Vertex colors and custom properties are discarded. STL normals follow triangle winding.
- No surface reconstruction for point clouds; big-endian PLY is rejected.
- Coordinates are unchanged and physical units remain unspecified. Establish the intended length unit before opening the STL in a slicer.
File and processing limits
- PLY input up to 20 MiB and a 64 KiB header.
- 300,000 vertices, 200,000 faces, 128 corners per polygon and 250,000 output triangles.
- Generated mesh output is limited to 64 MiB.
- 30 seconds per mesh job. Browser memory and device speed can impose lower practical limits.
Processing happens in this browser; your file and filename are not uploaded. Cancel, reset or replace the file to stop its worker. Downloads are generated locally.
Questions about this workflow
Can I convert a point-cloud scan here?
No. A point cloud needs a separate, deliberate surface-reconstruction step before mesh conversion. This tool rejects point-only PLY instead of inventing faces.