BLEND File Format (.blend)
A BLEND file is a direct save of Blender's internal memory structures, undocumented outside Blender's own source, carrying an entire application state, scenes, objects, materials, node graphs and interface layout, rather than a portable description of a single mesh.
BLEND at a glance#
| Full name | Blender scene |
|---|---|
| File extension | .blend |
| Category | 3D Models |
| Developer | Blender Foundation |
| First released | 1994 |
| Compression | Varies from file to file |
| FileFlip support | FileFlip reads this format but does not write it |
What a .blend file can hold#
These are the things a BLEND file either supports or does not, and they are what decides whether a conversion keeps everything or quietly drops something.
| Textures and materials | Yes |
|---|---|
| Skeletons and animation | Yes |
Strengths and limitations of BLEND#
What BLEND does well
- Captures a complete scene, modifiers, node-based materials, particle systems and interface layout, not just geometry
- Recent Blender versions can read files saved by older versions without any conversion step
- Optional built-in gzip compression shrinks a saved file with no loss
Where BLEND falls short
- Undocumented outside Blender's own source, which is why Assimp's maintainers describe their BLEND support as deprecated and not worth maintaining
- Reliably carries geometry and basic scene structure outside Blender; anything driven by Blender's node systems does not survive
- A file saved by a much newer major version isn't guaranteed to open in an older one, since the internal data layout changes between releases
Keep a project as BLEND for as long as it's being edited in Blender, since it's the only format that preserves every part of the scene.
Convert BLEND to glTF, FBX or OBJ the moment the model needs to leave Blender for another engine or tool.
How to open a .blend file#
A .blend file opens in the programs below, grouped by the platform you are on. If you would rather not install anything, FileFlip converts BLEND into a format your machine already opens, and it does it in the browser tab rather than on a server.
| Platform | Programs that open it |
|---|---|
| Windows | Blender |
| macOS | Blender |
| Linux | Blender |
| Web | FileFlip |
BLEND questions people ask#
What programs can open a BLEND file?
Blender itself is the only application that reliably opens a BLEND file, since the format is a direct save of Blender's own internal memory structures rather than a documented interchange format. Other 3D software that claims BLEND support usually only reads the geometry and basic scene structure.
Why can't other 3D software open BLEND files properly?
BLEND has no public specification; it's effectively a dump of whatever data structures that version of Blender happened to have in memory. Assimp's own maintainers describe their BLEND support as deprecated for exactly this reason, calling it too time-consuming to maintain an undocumented format with far more in it than a typical importer needs.
Is a BLEND file just a 3D model?
No, a BLEND file stores an entire Blender project: every scene, object, material, texture, node setup and even the interface layout, not just a mesh. That's why converting a BLEND to a format like OBJ or glTF is lossy, since those formats only have room for the geometry, materials and animation.
Can I compress a BLEND file?
Yes, Blender has a built-in option to save a BLEND file with gzip compression, which shrinks it losslessly. It's off by default, and the tradeoff is slightly slower saving and loading in exchange for the smaller file.
Converting BLEND files#
Convert BLEND to another format
FileFlip does not write .blend files, so nothing on the site converts into this format. It works as a source only.
Every conversion runs inside your browser. The file is read from your disk, the work happens on your own machine, and nothing is uploaded. How FileFlip works names the engine behind each family and how to verify that for yourself.