| Extension | PLY |
| Full Name | Stanford Triangle Format |
| Type | 3D Model/Point Cloud |
| Mime Type | application/octet-stream |
| Format | Text |
| Opens With | Blender, MeshLab |
The PLY format, also known as the Standard Triangle Format, is a popular 3D model file format originally created by Stanford University in the 1990s as a means to store 3D model data in a flexible and expandable format. There can be both binary and ASCII text formats in PLY files.
Both binary and text formats share a common header section that defines what geometric attributes (such as vertices, normals, faces, and colours) are present in the data. It is also possible to specify custom data to be associated with a vertex or object face.
PLY files can be opened with a wide range of 3D editing software; for example, Blender can both import and export to the PLY format with no additional software required.
PLY Converter Capabilities
When converting 3D model or mesh files using our PLY converter, we will attempt to convert colour materials into a suitable format for use in the converted file.
| Extension | PNG |
| Full Name | Portable Network Graphics |
| Type | Image |
| Mime Type | image/png |
| Format | Binary |
| Opens With | Paint.Net, Photoshop |
PNG files are a widely used graphics file format used in areas where high-quality images (often with transparency) are required while also retaining a small file size. They are one of the most common formats of file used for web and print mediums and are particularly useful for logos, icons, and other images where multi-level transparency is desired.
The format itself was created in the 1990's with the main aim of storing computer graphics in a high-quality format while minimizing the required storage space. The longer-term aim was to displace the GIF file format and make PNG the number one format for non-lossy, high-quality image formats on the then-burgeoning world wide web.
One of the selling points of the PNG format is its support for multiple levels of transparency, making it superior to the GIF format, which can only handle a single level of transparency. Also, like GIFs, the PNG format supports palletizing image colours down to 256 or 16 colours to help reduce the file size of the PNG.
