Free tools / glTF viewer

glTF viewer.

A .gltf file often comes with a .bin file and some images. Drop them all at once, the whole folder, or the .zip you downloaded. The viewer finds every file the glTF asks for and tells you which ones are missing.

Specification

What this tool does

Reads the .gltf text, matches each buffer and image it names to the files you dropped (by path first, then by file name) and loads the scene with three.js. A missing .bin stops the load and names the file. A missing image shows the plain material and a note. Nothing is fetched from the web.

Inputs
.gltf with .bin files and images (PNG, JPEG, WebP)
A folder or a .zip that holds them
GLB and the other 3D formats too
Outputs
Model details and a list of missing files
PNG snapshot of the view
Controls
Turn, zoom and pan by mouse, touch or keyboard
Wireframe, see-through, skeleton, textures and grid
Animation clip, play, pause, scrub, speed and loop
Limits
64 MiB per file and 256 MiB per drop, up to 1,000 files
Web addresses inside the glTF are never fetched
glTF 1.0 files are not read

Privacy: Files are parsed, previewed and written back inside your browser. Nothing is uploaded, no account is needed and no generation credits are spent.

Maintained by Bake3D · Updated

Why a glTF often comes in several files

A .gltf file is a text file. It describes the scene: the meshes, the materials, the bones and the animations. The heavy data usually sits in other files beside it. A .bin file holds the numbers for the shapes and the motion, and image files hold the textures.

The .gltf names each of those files by its path, like scene.bin or textures/fox_base.png. If you open the .gltf alone, those files are missing and the model cannot load. The glTF 2.0 specification from the Khronos Group allows both ways: data in files beside the .gltf, or data packed inside it.

How to view a glTF file with its .bin and textures

  1. Find every file that came with the model. Downloads often put them in one folder, sometimes with a textures folder inside.
  2. Drop them on the box above in one go. You can also drop the whole folder, press Choose a folder on a computer, or drop the .zip file you downloaded without unpacking it.
  3. The viewer opens the .gltf and finds each file it asks for. It looks for the exact path first. Then it tries the same path without caring about capital letters. Last, it looks for the file name in any folder.
  4. Read the notes in the panel. If an image is missing, the notes name it.

Every file stays on your computer. The viewer reads them in this browser tab and never uploads them. It never fetches a web address that a glTF points to, either.

What happens when a file is missing

  • The .bin file is missing. The model cannot load without it, so the viewer stops and names the file it needs. Drop it with the .gltf and try again.
  • An image is missing. The model still loads. That part shows its plain material color, and the panel lists the missing image by name.
  • The glTF points to a web address. The viewer does not download it, and the panel says so. Download the file yourself and drop it with the rest.
  • The file is glTF 1.0. That is an old version from 2015. Open it in a tool that still reads it and save it as glTF 2.0.

glTF or GLB?

Both use the same format, glTF 2.0. A GLB packs the .gltf text, the .bin data and the images into one binary file. A .gltf keeps them apart, which makes the text easy to read and edit.

To share a model, a single GLB is simpler, because no file can go missing. Blender can turn one into the other: import the .gltf, then choose File, Export, glTF 2.0, and set the format to glTF Binary (.glb). Our GLB viewer page explains how to check a GLB, and what a GLB file is compares the two in more detail. To use the model in Unity or Unreal Engine, our glTF to FBX converter takes the .gltf with its .bin and textures and writes one FBX with the rig and animations.

Try the sample

The sample is our fox, written as three files in your browser: bake3d-fox.gltf, bake3d-fox.bin and bake3d-fox-basecolor.jpg. Together they take 2.86 MB. The viewer finds the .bin and the texture, then shows 60,000 triangles, 29 bones and three animations, the same as the GLB version. It is a good way to see what a complete set looks like.

Common questions

Why does my glTF show no textures?

The images were not dropped with the .gltf, or their names do not match. Open the notes in the panel to see which image names the file asks for. Then drop those images with the model, or drop the whole folder.

Can I drop a .zip file?

Yes. The viewer unpacks the .zip in your browser and opens the model inside it. It skips system files like __MACOSX. One .zip can hold up to 1,000 files and unpack to 256 MiB.

Does the viewer download files that the glTF points to on the web?

No. A glTF can point to a web address for its data or images. The viewer never follows those addresses, so opening a file never contacts another website.

What is the difference between .gltf and .glb?

They hold the same kind of scene. A .gltf is readable text with separate files beside it. A .glb is one binary file with everything inside. Most apps read both.

What did we test?

In Chrome, we dropped the three sample files together, dropped them as a .zip inside a folder, and dropped the .gltf alone. The first two opened with the texture, the bones and all three clips. The .gltf alone showed the message that bake3d-fox.bin is missing. Automated tests check the file matching, including paths with spaces, capital letters, Windows paths and ../ folders. They also check that splitting the sample GLB into three files keeps every number the same.

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