en – Global
Knowledge & Community
Search
K
Quote & source your parts
Europe Europe
Türkiye Türkiye
United Kingdom United Kingdom
Global Global
select
navigate
switch tabs
Esc close

OBJ to STEP Converter

Convert OBJ mesh files to the STEP format for use in CAD applications.

Convert an OBJ file

OBJ mesh file
iWavefront OBJ (ASCII, triangles, quads, or polygons). Vertex and MTL material colors are exported as STEP face colors. Named OBJ objects export as separate named solids.

Optional: to export material colors

No file at hand?

Units used in the OBJ file
iOBJ files have no units. Select what the numbers in your file represent. The STEP file is always written in millimeters.
Face handling
iJoins neighboring coplanar triangles with the same color into one planar CAD face.
Curved surfaces
iDetects mesh strips on cylinders or cones and writes them as true CAD surfaces. Other curved surfaces remain faceted.

Conversion runs locally in this browser tab. Your file is never uploaded.

STEP output

Load an OBJ file to start

Watertight meshes export as solid bodies. Meshes with gaps export as surface models, and the mesh check explains what to fix.

Conversion runs locally in this browser tab. Your file is never uploaded.

Converted geometry is for reference only. Verify critical dimensions in your CAD system before manufacturing. Conversion runs locally in your browser.

How does OBJ to STEP conversion work?

Clean and repair the mesh

The converter triangulates quads and polygons, welds duplicate vertices per body, removes zero-area triangles, aligns triangle winding, splits non-manifold pinch vertices, and caps small flat gaps automatically.

Simplify if needed

Meshes above 300,000 triangles are simplified to that size (up to 1,200,000 are accepted). Open boundaries, body borders, and color borders are kept.

Build faces, cylinders, and bodies

Coplanar, same-colored triangles merge into one planar face. Strips that lie exactly on a cylinder, or on a cone around the main axis, become one true curved face with circular edges. Everything else stays flat. Each named OBJ object (or group) becomes its own solid.

Write STEP AP214

Closed shells are written as solid bodies (MANIFOLD_SOLID_BREP) with colors from OBJ vertex colors or the attached MTL file. Open meshes are written as surface models, which quoting systems usually reject.

FAQ

Drop your .obj file on the converter, attach the .mtl file if you want material colors, select the unit the model was made in, and press Convert to STEP. You get a solid STEP file (AP214) for CNC machining, CAD, or CAM. This mesh to STEP conversion needs no account.

Yes, when the mesh is watertight or becomes watertight after automatic repair. CAD and CAM software can measure, section, and toolpath it. Holes, slots, and fillets that match a cylinder exactly are true cylindrical faces, so CAM can select them as holes. Other curved areas stay as flat facets, so remodel tight-tolerance features in CAD.

A solid needs a closed mesh where every edge is shared by exactly two triangles. If the mesh check still shows open edges, close the gap in a mesh tool such as Blender or Meshmixer and convert again. A surface model will not upload to the Xometry Instant Quoting Engine®, which needs a solid. Files with over 12,000 faces or 15 MB can also be rejected. In that case, ask for the native CAD file.

The converter rebuilds a cylinder or cone only when the triangles lie on it exactly and every edge can be written as an exact circle or line. Spheres, tori, freeform blends, chamfered holes away from the main axis, and holes that meet a fillet stay flat, because a partial curve would stop CAD from building a solid. Turn off Recognize cylinders to keep flat facets everywhere.

Automatic: welding duplicate vertices per body, removing degenerate triangles, splitting non-manifold vertices, and capping small flat gaps. Not automatic: filling large or curved holes or fixing self-intersections, which would mean inventing geometry. The mesh check lists what was repaired and what remains.

Yes. Each named OBJ object (o) becomes its own named solid. Without o lines, groups (g) are used instead. Bodies never share a vertex or edge, even if they touch, and disconnected shells inside one group get unique names.

Vertex colors (v x y z r g b) and MTL material colors (Kd) are written as STEP face colors. Attach the .mtl file next to the .obj, because the browser cannot read it on its own. Textures and UV coordinates are not transferred, since a machining STEP file has no use for them.

Up to 300,000 triangles convert directly. Up to 1,200,000 triangles are simplified to 300,000 first, which can reduce the number of recognized cylinders, and a notice appears. Above 1,200,000, decimate the mesh in your modeling tool first.

The STEP file is always in millimeters, so SolidWorks, Fusion 360, Creo, NX, and other CAD systems open it at the correct size. OBJ files have no units, so you select what the numbers in your file mean. Example: 88 with cm selected becomes 880 mm. If the bounding box looks 10 or 1000 times off, change the unit.

STEP stores every face, edge, and vertex as a separate text record, so a triangulated STEP file is typically 5 to 15 times larger than the OBJ. Merging flat triangles and rebuilding cylinders reduces this.

It is free, and your file is never uploaded. Everything runs in a background thread in your browser tab, so confidential designs stay on your computer.

Got your STEP file?

Upload it to the Xometry Instant Quoting Engine® for CNC machining, injection molding, sheet metal, and 3D printing prices in seconds.

Start a Quote

Comment(0)