Free Online VTK to STL Converter

VTK files (Visualization Toolkit) are a 3D graphics format used to store 3D models and scientific visualizations in a format that is easy to integrate into 3D rendering systems.

The VTK format consists of a header section that describes the data structure and fields present in the main content. The actual 3D content can be stored as either plain ASCII text or binary, with the binary option offering the most efficient use of storage space.

There are several VTK viewing applications available, and our own set of VTK conversion tools can convert to and from other common 3D formats, such as OBJ.

VTK Converter Capabilities

Our VTK 3D Model/Mesh tool does not support any color material data contained within VTK files, so the converted file will not contain any color information.

The STL, or Standard Triangle Language, file format has been around since the '80s and is supported by most modern 3D modeling applications. In particular, the STL format has become something of a standard format within the area of 3D printing, despite the rise of more modern formats such as 3MF.

STL files come in two flavors: binary or text format. The text format is human-readable, making it easy to perform manual edits, but can lead to very large file sizes. As you can imagine, the binary format is much more compact and represents the majority of the STL files you are likely to encounter.

The format itself is very simple; the 3D model is represented by a sequential list of triangles, with each triangle defined with 3 points consisting of their X, Y, and Z positions, along with an additional vector that contains the face normal (the direction the face is pointing). There is an additional attribute block for each triangle; however, this is largely unused and thus unsupported.

STL Converter Capabilities

Our 3D conversion tool does not support color or material information in STL files, so your file will not contain any color information.