Free Online GLTF Viewer

View any glTF file in 3D with full PBR materials, textures, and animations. AR on iPhone and Android. No install, no account, completely free.

What is glTF?

glTF (GL Transmission Format) is an open standard for 3D assets developed and maintained by the Khronos Group -- the same consortium behind OpenGL, Vulkan, and WebGL. Often described as the "JPEG of 3D," glTF was designed to be the universal transmission format for 3D content on the web, in augmented reality, and in real-time applications.

A glTF file is a JSON document that describes a complete 3D scene. It references external binary buffer files (.bin) that contain vertex positions, normals, texture coordinates, and animation keyframes. Texture images are stored as separate PNG, JPEG, WebP, or KTX2 files alongside the JSON. This separation makes glTF human-readable and easy to edit -- you can open the JSON in a text editor, change a material colour, or swap a texture by replacing an image file.

The glTF material model is based on physically based rendering (PBR) using the metallic-roughness workflow. Every material can define base colour, metallic factor, roughness factor, normal maps, occlusion maps, and emissive maps. This core model covers most real-world surfaces from matte rubber to polished metal. Extensions expand the material system further: KHR_materials_unlit provides flat-shaded materials for stylised content, KHR_materials_transmission adds transparency for glass and liquids, and KHR_materials_volume enables refraction and absorption for realistic translucent objects.

Animations in glTF use channel-based keyframe data with three interpolation modes: linear, step, and cubic spline. Skeletal animations drive joint hierarchies for character movement and mechanical articulation. Morph-target animations (blend shapes) enable facial expressions, corrective shapes, and smooth deformations. Multiple animation clips can be stored in a single file and triggered independently by the application.

The glTF ecosystem includes a rich set of extensions managed by the Khronos Group. KHR_draco_mesh_compression reduces geometry file size by 90% or more using Google's Draco library. KHR_texture_basisu enables GPU-compressed textures that load faster and use less memory. KHR_mesh_quantization reduces vertex data size by quantising positions, normals, and texture coordinates. These extensions are widely supported across viewers and engines.

glTF has been adopted by every major 3D platform. Three.js, Babylon.js, PlayCanvas, Unity, Unreal Engine, Godot, Blender, Sketchfab, Google, Meta, Shopify, and Apple all support glTF import or rendering. The Khronos Group maintains an official validator, sample models, and a conformance test suite to ensure consistent implementation across platforms.

GLTF vs GLB

GLTF and GLB are two delivery modes of the same glTF 2.0 specification. They contain identical data and can be converted between each other without any loss.

A .gltf file is a JSON document that references external .bin files for geometry data and external image files for textures. The entire asset is a folder of files. This structure is ideal for development: the JSON is human-readable and diffable, textures can be swapped by replacing files, and version control systems can track changes at a granular level.

A .glb file packages everything -- JSON, binary buffers, and textures -- into a single binary container. This is ideal for deployment: one file is simpler to upload, share, serve from a CDN, and embed on a website. GLB also avoids path-resolution bugs that can occur when glTF files are moved or when texture paths contain special characters.

In practice, most teams author in glTF during development and export to GLB for production. Tools like gltf-pipeline, Blender, and the Khronos glTF-Transform library convert between the formats in both directions. GeometryViewer supports both formats with identical rendering quality. For a full comparison, see our guide on GLTF vs GLB.

How to View GLTF Files

Viewing a glTF file in GeometryViewer takes three steps:

• Step 1: Open your file. Drag and drop a .gltf file onto the viewer above, or click the "Open .glb file" button to select a file from your device. For multi-file glTF assets, you can also drop a .glb file (the binary version) which contains everything in one file.
• Step 2: Inspect the model. Orbit, zoom, and pan with mouse or touch. The viewer renders the complete scene with PBR materials, textures, normal maps, and lighting. Animations play automatically if present. Check geometry, verify materials, and confirm visual accuracy before publishing.
• Step 3: View in AR (optional). On iPhone or iPad, tap the AR button to open the model in Apple Quick Look. On Android with Chrome, WebXR places the model on a real surface. AR is perfect for checking physical scale and real-world appearance.

Everything runs in your browser. No file is uploaded to any server. There are no accounts, no watermarks, and no usage limits. The viewer works on desktop, tablet, and phone.

For Developers

GeometryViewer is built on a web component (<geometry-viewer>) that you can embed on any website. Add one script tag and use the custom element in your HTML to display glTF or GLB files with full PBR rendering, orbit controls, and AR support. No framework dependencies are required -- it works with plain HTML, React, Vue, Svelte, or any other stack.

The component is available as a script from our CDN or as an npm package. Configuration is done through HTML attributes: set the src attribute to a model URL, add ar for AR support, controls for orbit interaction, and autoplay for animations. You can also set camera position, environment lighting, background colour, and exposure programmatically through the JavaScript API.

For integration guides, code snippets, and API documentation, see the embed documentation. For a deep dive into building 3D experiences with web components, read our guide on building a 3D viewer web component.

Compatible Software

glTF is the most widely supported 3D format in the real-time graphics ecosystem. Here are the major tools and libraries that work with glTF files:

• Blender -- Full glTF import and export with PBR materials, animations, shape keys, armatures, and Draco compression. Blender's glTF add-on is maintained in collaboration with the Khronos Group and is one of the most complete implementations available.
• Three.js -- The dominant WebGL library. Its GLTFLoader supports the full glTF 2.0 specification including Draco compression, GPU-compressed textures, and all standard extensions. Most web-based 3D experiences are built on Three.js.
• Babylon.js -- Microsoft's WebGL and WebGPU engine with first-class glTF support. Includes a full PBR pipeline, physics engine, particle system, and XR framework. Babylon's glTF loader is one of the fastest available.
• Unity -- Supports glTF through the UnityGLTF package and the built-in importer in Unity 2023+. Used extensively for games, AR applications, digital twins, and training simulations.
• Unreal Engine -- Imports glTF files via the Interchange framework or third-party plugins. Materials are automatically converted to Unreal's PBR material system.
• Google model-viewer -- The official web component for 3D and AR on the web. Uses glTF/GLB as its native format and powers AR previews in Google Search, Google Shopping, and millions of product pages.
• PlayCanvas -- A cloud-based game engine with native glTF support. Used for interactive 3D web experiences, product configurators, and architectural visualisation.

Privacy

GeometryViewer is a fully client-side application. When you open a glTF file, it is loaded directly into your browser's memory and rendered using WebGL. No file data is ever sent to any server. There is no upload step, no cloud processing, and no analytics on file contents.

This makes GeometryViewer safe for viewing proprietary assets, unreleased designs, NDA-protected models, and confidential work. The viewer functions entirely offline after the initial page load -- disconnect from the internet and it continues to work. No account or registration is required.

Frequently Asked Questions

Need 3D models to view? ModelDirectory.org has thousands of free STL, OBJ, GLTF, and 3MF files — open any of them here in one click.