ZGL Converter
FileFlip converts ZGL files into 14 other formats entirely inside your browser, using Assimp compiled to WebAssembly. The ZGL file is never uploaded to a server: it is read off your disk, converted on your own machine, and saved back by the browser. There is no file-size limit and no account to create.
How do I convert a ZGL file?#
- Drop your ZGL file onto the converter at the top of this page, or click it to pick one from your computer.
- Choose the format you want out of it. FileFlip downloads the engine that conversion needs, once, and your browser caches it.
- Conversion starts the moment you pick the format, and the result is yours to download. The work happens in this tab, so nothing is uploaded and nothing is queued.
Is it safe to convert ZGL files online?#
Yes, because nothing is uploaded. FileFlip converts ZGL 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 happens to a ZGL file#
FileFlip converts ZGL into 14 formats with Assimp, all of it inside the browser tab. Each conversion below names the engine it uses, what it downloads, and exactly what that conversion keeps or drops.
| Category | 3D Models |
|---|---|
| File extension | .zgl |
| FileFlip support | Read only, so it is a source rather than a target |
| Conversions available | 14 |
| Engines | Assimp |
| Downloaded to your browser | 11.2 MB on the first conversion, then cached |
What is a ZGL file?#
A ZGL file is an XGL 3D scene, meshes, materials, lighting and a transform hierarchy under a root WORLD element, run through gzip compression, which is how the verbose XGL XML is usually distributed.
Use ZGL wherever an XGL scene is being distributed or stored and file size matters, since it's the same data compressed.
Convert ZGL to glTF or OBJ for anything outside the original CAD visualisation tooling, since ZGL support is rare elsewhere.
The ZGL file format reference covers the specification, the programs that open one, and what each conversion keeps or drops.
ZGL questions people ask#
What is a ZGL file?
A ZGL file is a gzip-compressed XGL scene, the same XML mesh, material, lighting and transform data as an XGL file, just shrunk down. A reader decompresses it first and then parses it exactly like XGL.
How do I open a ZGL file?
A ZGL file needs a tool that specifically supports the XGL/ZGL format, since it isn't a general-purpose gzip archive despite using the same compression. Decompressing it manually with a gzip utility recovers the underlying XGL XML, which can then be inspected as text.
Is ZGL a different format from XGL?
No. A ZGL file holds the exact same XGL scene structure, just compressed. Nothing about the meshes, materials or hierarchy changes between the two.