Maintained by the Khronos Group, glTF is often called “the JPEG of 3D”: compact, widely supported and designed for real-time rendering in browsers and apps.
GLB packs the model, textures and animations into one file, which is what web viewers, Android Scene Viewer and most AR pipelines consume. Thridify delivers models as glTF/GLB (plus USDZ for iOS).
What is inside a glTF file
A glTF asset describes a scene: meshes (the geometry), materials, textures, and optionally cameras, animations and skins. The .gltf form is JSON with separate binary and image files beside it. The .glb form packs all of that into one binary file, which is easier to host and cache, so commerce viewers almost always ship GLB.
glTF 2.0 was released by the Khronos Group in 2017 and is published as the international standard ISO/IEC 12113:2022. The units are metres and the up axis is +Y, which matters the first time a model shows up in AR at the wrong size or lying on its side.
Extensions commerce teams actually use
Plain glTF is already compact, but three official extensions do most of the work on product pages. KHR_draco_mesh_compression shrinks geometry. KHR_texture_basisu lets textures ship as KTX2 files that stay compressed on the graphics card. KHR_materials_variants stores several material options in one file, which is a natural fit for finishes in a configurator.
Not every viewer supports every extension, so it is worth checking that the extensions in a file are ones the target viewer, Scene Viewer and any marketplace you sell on can read.
Common problems when converting to GLB
Most issues come from the source file rather than the format: models exported from CAD with millions of triangles, materials that rely on a renderer-specific shader, textures at 8K when 2K would look the same on a phone, or a pivot point nowhere near the floor. Fixing these before export is far cheaper than chasing them in the viewer.
Why it matters
Owning your catalogue as glTF/GLB means the same assets run in any viewer, marketplace or AR pipeline — no vendor lock-in.
Questions about glTF / GLB
- What is the difference between glTF and GLB?
- Same format, different packaging. .gltf is JSON with separate files for binary data and images; .glb is a single binary file containing everything.
- Can I convert FBX, OBJ or CAD files to GLB?
- Yes. Blender and most 3D tools export GLB. CAD files usually need their geometry simplified and their materials rebuilt as PBR first, or the GLB will be heavy and look wrong.
- Is GLB enough for AR on iPhone?
- No. AR Quick Look on iPhone and iPad needs USDZ. Keep GLB as the source of truth and generate USDZ from it.