ZGL to OBJ Converter
FileFlip converts ZGL to OBJ 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 a ZGL file to OBJ?#
- Drop your ZGL 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 OBJ 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 OBJ file. Your browser writes it straight to your downloads folder, because there was never a server holding it.
Does converting ZGL to OBJ lose quality?#
Not in the sense of pixels or samples. Converting ZGL to OBJ rebuilds the file in OBJ's own model rather than re-encoding it, so everything OBJ 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 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 ZGL to OBJ actually does to the file#
Converting ZGL to OBJ 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: ZGL → OBJ |
| 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, or a ZIP when the source carries separate materials or buffers |
| 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:
- the result is a single file when the model has no external materials or buffers, and a ZIP when it does
- if the source carries a skeleton or animation, this target has no place to store it
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.
What is an OBJ file?#
An OBJ file is a plain-text 3D geometry format that Wavefront Technologies designed for its Advanced Visualizer software, storing vertex positions, texture coordinates and normals as human-readable lines of ASCII text.
Use OBJ when a static mesh needs to move between two different applications with the least risk of anything being misread.
Convert away from OBJ when the model needs animation, a skeleton, or to travel as a single file without a companion MTL.
ZGL to OBJ 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.
What is an OBJ file used for?
An OBJ file stores the geometry of a single 3D model: its vertices, faces, texture coordinates and normals, written as plain text. It's used to move a static mesh between applications, since almost every 3D tool on every platform can read it.