MD2 to COLLADA Converter
FileFlip converts MD2 to COLLADA 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 MD2 file to COLLADA?#
- Drop your MD2 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 COLLADA 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 COLLADA file. Your browser writes it straight to your downloads folder, because there was never a server holding it.
Does converting MD2 to COLLADA lose quality?#
Not in the sense of pixels or samples. Converting MD2 to COLLADA rebuilds the file in COLLADA's own model rather than re-encoding it, so everything COLLADA 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 MD2 files online?#
Yes, because nothing is uploaded. FileFlip converts MD2 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 MD2 to COLLADA actually does to the file#
Converting MD2 to COLLADA 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.
| Engine | Assimp |
|---|---|
| Conversion path | One step: MD2 → COLLADA |
| 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 | Sometimes | Survives for some files and not others. |
What is an MD2 file?#
An MD2 file is a Quake II character or object model in which every animation frame stores a full snapshot of every vertex's position, quantized to a byte per axis, rather than any kind of skeleton.
Reach for MD2 only when working directly inside Quake II's modding pipeline or a source port that still loads it natively.
Convert an MD2 file to a modern interchange format when the model needs to move into current 3D software, since almost nothing outside Quake II tooling reads it directly.
What is a COLLADA file?#
A DAE file is an XML document in the COLLADA schema, created at Sony Computer Entertainment in 2004 and now maintained by the Khronos Group, describing a 3D scene's geometry, materials, lights, cameras and animation so it can move between authoring tools that don't share a native format.
Use COLLADA when a scene, not just a mesh, needs to move between two older authoring tools that both implement the schema.
Convert DAE to glTF for anything shipping to a web viewer, game engine or AR platform today, since that's the format those targets expect.
MD2 to COLLADA questions people ask#
What is an MD2 file?
An MD2 file is the model format Quake II used for characters, monsters and pickup items, storing animation as a full vertex snapshot for every frame instead of a skeleton. id Software introduced it with the game in 1997, and it defined how a generation of vertex-animated 3D games moved.
Can MD2 files still be opened today?
Yes. Modern Quake II source ports like Yamagi Quake II load MD2 files exactly as the original game did, and general-purpose viewers such as Noesis and older tools like MilkShape 3D also read them for inspection or conversion.
Why does MD2 animation look choppier than modern game characters?
MD2 has no skeleton, so an animation is just a fixed sequence of whole-mesh vertex positions with interpolation between frames. That rules out the smooth blending and procedural motion a skeletal rig allows, which is the main reason id Software moved on to skeletal animation for Doom 3's MD5 format a few years later.
What is a DAE file?
A DAE file is a COLLADA document, an XML-based interchange format created at Sony Computer Entertainment in 2004 and now maintained by the Khronos Group. It describes a full 3D scene, geometry, materials, lights, cameras and animation, so it can move between authoring tools that don't share a native format.