FBX Viewer

An FBX viewer that runs in the browser

This FBX viewer opens Autodesk .fbx files without Maya, 3ds Max, Blender or a game engine. Drop the file on the page and you can rotate the model, check its materials and play its animations. The file is read on your own device and is never uploaded.

Both binary and ASCII FBX are supported, from version 7.0 onward. That covers files from any reasonably current 3D program, asset store or Mixamo download.

What FBX is and who uses it

FBX started as the native format of Filmbox, a motion capture program made by Kaydara. Autodesk bought Kaydara in 2006 and turned FBX into the exchange format between its own products. Today it is the default way to move rigged and animated characters between modeling tools and game engines such as Unity and Unreal Engine.

The format is proprietary. Autodesk publishes an SDK but not a full specification, so other programs read FBX by reverse engineering or through that SDK. This is why two programs can open the same FBX and show slightly different results.

An FBX can hold a whole scene: a hierarchy of objects, meshes, materials, textures (embedded or referenced), skeletons, skin weights, morph targets (blend shapes), animation, cameras and lights.

Meshes and hierarchy

Shown. Each mesh keeps its position in the scene.

Materials

Shown, using the diffuse color, textures and basic shading values stored in the file.

Embedded textures

Shown. These are packed inside the .fbx when the exporter's "Embed Media" option was on.

External textures

Shown if you open the image files together with the .fbx. Otherwise the model appears without them.

Skeletal animation and morph targets

Played. Pick a clip from the list if the file has several.

Cameras and lights

Not used. The viewer uses its own camera and lighting.

"FBX version not supported": older FBX 6.x files

Each FBX file records the version of the format it was written in, such as 6100 or 7400. This viewer reads version 7.0 and newer. Files written as version 6.x cannot be opened here. You still find them in older asset packs and archives.

To open an old file, re-save it as a newer version. If you have the original program, export again and choose a 7.x FBX version in the export dialog. Otherwise, Autodesk's free FBX Converter, a legacy tool that is no longer updated but still widely available, can resave old FBX files in a newer version.

Common FBX problems

Textures missing: the FBX references image files by path instead of embedding them. Open the images together with the .fbx, or re-export with "Embed Media" turned on.

Model is huge or tiny: Maya, 3ds Max and Unreal often work in centimeters while other tools use meters, so the same character can be 180 units tall in one file and 1.8 in another. The info panel shows the bounding-box size in the file's own numbers, so you can see which one you have.

Animation does not play: check the clip list. Some exports contain several takes, and the first one may be a short or empty clip. If the list is empty, the animation was not baked into the file at export.

Character in a T-pose: that is often the bind pose. Play a clip to see it move.

Converting FBX files

Use "Download as" to save the model as GLB, glTF, OBJ, STL, PLY or USDZ. GLB is the closest match: it keeps meshes, materials, textures and skeletal animation in an open format that web viewers and most engines read. OBJ and STL keep only the geometry. An STL takes the pose on screen, so set Animation to Stopped first to get the rest pose; an OBJ of a rigged character is always written in its rest pose, usually a T-pose. Coordinates are not rescaled, so an FBX in centimeters stays in centimeters.

To turn an FBX into a single web-ready file with its animations, use FBX to GLB.