FBX to GLB converter. From Autodesk to the open web.
Drop an .fbx file and get a GLB for web viewers and AR, converted on your device with mesh names, material colors and real-world scale carried over.
Updated
No FBX file at hand?
What an FBX file is, and why browsers do not read it
FBX is Autodesk's format for moving scenes between 3ds Max, Maya and other content tools; it has no open specification, so the web standardised on glTF instead.
FBX (Filmbox, owned by Autodesk) stores a whole scene: meshes, a node hierarchy with transforms, materials, textures, cameras, lights, skeletons and animation. 3ds Max, Maya, Blender, Cinema 4D, SketchUp and most game engines exchange it, so product renders and visualisation models often exist as FBX. It comes as binary (most files) or ASCII.
The format is defined by Autodesk's SDK rather than a public specification, and each file carries its own conventions: a unit scale (FBX counts in centimeters, times a UnitScaleFactor), an up axis that may be Y or Z, and materials written for older shading models such as Phong and Lambert. No browser opens FBX, and web 3D libraries treat their FBX readers as import tools, not a delivery format.
glTF, and its single-file form GLB, is the open standard the web uses instead: meters and Y-up by definition, physically based materials, and a binary layout a viewer can hand to the GPU. Converting FBX to GLB means resolving those per-file conventions once, so every viewer shows the model the same way.
How to convert FBX to GLB
Five steps take an FBX to a GLB a browser can show. This is the general method, and what this tool does at each step.
01Read the scene
Parse the binary or ASCII FBX into its objects: geometry, models (nodes) with their transforms, materials, textures and the connections between them.
This tool: reads binary and ASCII FBX 7.0 and newer (FBX 2011 onwards) with three.js's FBX reader. Older files are refused with a message.
02Resolve axes, units and transforms
Apply each node's translation, rotation and scale, turn a Z-up scene to Y-up, and convert the file's unit scale to meters. Mirrored transforms flip a mesh inside out unless the triangle winding is reversed too.
This tool: bakes every mesh's full transform into its vertices, turns Z-up files to Y-up, scales centimeters × UnitScaleFactor to meters, and reverses the winding of mirrored meshes.
03Translate the materials
FBX's Phong and Lambert materials map approximately onto glTF's metallic-roughness model: the diffuse color becomes the base color, and texture maps are re-embedded in the GLB.
This tool: carries each material's name and diffuse color as a non-metallic glTF material, and splits a mesh by material. Textures are not carried.
04Decide on animation
Skeletons, skinning and blend shapes can be converted to glTF skins and morph targets, or dropped when the model only needs to be shown.
This tool: drops skeletons, animations, blend shapes, cameras and lights. A skinned mesh comes out in its rest pose.
05Optimize and write the GLB
Merge duplicate vertices, index them, and compress the geometry so the file loads fast.
This tool: merges duplicate data, indexes vertices, removes what nothing uses, then applies Meshopt compression (Web preset) or writes plain glTF 2.0 geometry (Max compatibility).
FBX and GLB, side by side
Both hold whole scenes; only one is an open standard a browser is built to read.
| Aspect | FBX | GLB |
|---|---|---|
| Owner | Autodesk, defined by its SDK | Khronos Group, an open standard |
| Encoding | Binary or ASCII | Binary (JSON plus buffers in one file) |
| Units and axes | Per file: unit scale, Y-up or Z-up | Meters, Y-up, always |
| Materials | Phong, Lambert, application-specific | PBR metallic-roughness |
| Textures | Embedded or as paths to separate images | Embedded |
| Animation | Skeletal, blend shapes, cameras, lights | Skeletal and morph targets |
| Opens in a browser | No | Yes: three.js, Babylon.js, <model-viewer>, Android Scene Viewer |
Before you export the FBX
Three choices in your modelling tool decide what survives the trip.
Choose FBX 2011 or newer
Pick a version from 2011 onwards (FBX 7.x), binary or ASCII. FBX 6 and older are refused.
Name meshes and materials
Mesh and material names carry into the GLB, which is how a configurator finds a part to swap or a finish to change. In mesh names, spaces become underscores and the characters [ ] . : / are dropped; material names arrive as written.
Decide where textures live
This tool carries material colors, not textures. If the product depends on its textures, export a GLB straight from Blender, 3ds Max or Maya, where the exporter can embed them.
Questions about the FBX to GLB converter.
What it does, what it leaves to you, and what it costs.
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