LXO to STEP Converter
FileFlip converts LXO to STEP entirely inside your browser, using Assimp compiled to WebAssembly. The file is never uploaded to a server: it is read off your disk, converted on your own machine, and saved back by the browser. That means no file-size limit, no queue and no account.
How do I convert an LXO file to STEP?#
- Drop your LXO file onto the converter at the top of this page, or click it to pick one from your computer. You can add as many as you like.
- Leave the target set to STEP and the conversion starts on its own. FileFlip downloads 11.2 MB of WebAssembly the first time and nothing after that, then runs Assimp on your own machine.
- Save the STEP file. Your browser writes it straight to your downloads folder, because there was never a server holding it.
Does converting LXO to STEP lose quality?#
Not in the sense of pixels or samples. Converting LXO to STEP rebuilds the file in STEP's own model rather than re-encoding it, so everything STEP can represent comes through exactly and anything it cannot has to be dropped. Expect the geometry to be exact, and anything the target has no place for, such as a rig, to be left behind.
Is it safe to convert LXO files online?#
Yes, because nothing is uploaded. FileFlip converts LXO files inside the browser tab you already have open, using WebAssembly builds of the same engines a desktop converter would install. Your file is read from your own disk into the page's memory, and no request carrying it is ever made.
You do not have to take that on trust. Open your browser's network panel, run a conversion, and you will see the engine come down and your file go nowhere. There is no upload, no server-side copy, no retention window, and no account tied to what you converted.
How FileFlip works lists every engine, its version and its download size, and shows how to check for yourself that nothing leaves your machine.
What LXO to STEP actually does to the file#
Converting LXO to STEP runs on Assimp, downloads 11.2 MB of WebAssembly the first time and nothing after that, rebuilds the file in the target's own model, and drops skeleton and animation.
| Engine | Assimp |
|---|---|
| Conversion path | One step: LXO → STEP |
| Downloaded to your browser | 11.2 MB, once, then cached by your browser |
| Quality | Rebuilt in the target's model |
| You get back | One file |
| Where it runs | In a background worker, so the page stays responsive |
What survives the conversion
| What is in the file | This conversion | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Materials | Sometimes | Survives for some files and not others. |
| Textures | Sometimes | Survives for some files and not others. |
| Skeleton and animation | Dropped | The target format has nowhere to put it. |
Worth knowing before you start:
- if the source carries a skeleton or animation, this target has no place to store it
What is an LXO file?#
An LXO file is Foundry Modo's native scene, holding meshes, materials and Modo's item and mesh-operation hierarchy for a scene built or edited in the application.
Keep a scene as LXO while it's still being modelled or shaded inside Modo, to preserve its procedural mesh operations.
Convert LXO to FBX or glTF once the scene needs to move into an engine or another modeller, since Modo-specific data won't survive the trip either way.
What is an STEP file?#
An STP file holds a STEP product model in ISO 10303's plain-text exchange syntax, encoding exact boundary-representation solids, surfaces and curves rather than a triangulated mesh.
Use STEP whenever exact CAD geometry, not an approximated mesh, needs to move between two different CAD systems.
Convert a STEP file to a mesh format like STL or OBJ once the model is finished and only needs to be viewed, rendered or 3D printed rather than edited as a solid.
LXO to STEP questions people ask#
What is an LXO file?
An LXO file is a Modo scene, storing meshes, materials and Modo's own item and mesh-operation hierarchy. Modo was built by Luxology, a studio founded by former LightWave 3D engineers, which is why LXO shares some structural DNA with LWO.
Is Modo still available to open LXO files?
Foundry, which acquired Luxology in 2012, discontinued Modo in November 2024. Existing licenses still run the application, but there's no further development, which makes converting an LXO scene to a more current format worth doing before Modo becomes harder to run.
Can other 3D software open LXO files?
Only a small number of tools, since LXO was never published as an open interchange format. Libraries like Assimp include an LXO importer for basic geometry and materials, but Modo-specific features such as its procedural mesh operations aren't something another application can reconstruct.
What does STP stand for?
STP is the file extension for STEP, the Standard for the Exchange of Product model data, formally ISO 10303. It's the neutral format mechanical CAD systems use to hand solid models to each other.