ZIP to STL Converter
Pull the printable out of a downloaded archive. Drop the ZIP, get the STL.
Built and maintained by Matúš Koleják, Co-Founder, TechDraw AI
Updated
Drop a file here. It never leaves your browser.
No sign-up · no upload · no watermark · no file size limit · STL first, 3MF and OBJ one click away
Have a different file? 3MF to STL Converter · OBJ to STL Converter · G-code to STL Converter · PLY to STL Converter
How to convert a ZIP to STL
Add your ZIP
Drop a ZIP onto the tool, or click to choose one. It is read in your browser and never uploaded.
Check the preview
Drag the model to turn it. The triangle count, the number of parts and the size in millimetres are shown under it, so a unit problem is visible before you download.
Download STL
Click Download STL. No account, no watermark, no waiting. 3MF and OBJ come off the same file with one more click.
What happens to your file
The archive is opened in your browser and searched for anything printable: STL, 3MF, OBJ and PLY, at any depth. The readme, the licence, the renders and the hidden __MACOSX folder that macOS adds are ignored, and every mesh found is read with its own reader, so an archive mixing STL and 3MF comes out as one model. Nothing here is really a conversion: the mesh was already in the archive in its own format, and the job is finding it and handing it over as STL.
Starting from a photo or a drawing instead of a mesh? That is the image to STL converter, and a 2D outline becomes a solid on the DXF to STL converter.
About formats
ZIP is not a 3D format at all, which is exactly why it turns up here. Phil Katz published it in 1989 and it became the default way to hand somebody a folder, so a model downloaded from Printables, Thingiverse, MakerWorld, Cults or a Patreon almost always arrives as one: the printable files, a licence, a readme, a few renders and, if the uploader used a Mac, a hidden __MACOSX folder full of zero-length twins of every real file. Nothing in the archive tells a slicer which member is the model, and most slicers will not look inside at all, which is why 'how do I convert a zip to STL' is a question people genuinely ask. The answer is that there is nothing to convert: the mesh is already in there in its own format, and the job is finding it, reading it and ignoring the rest. A 3MF is itself a ZIP, so an archive can quite legitimately contain another one.
- Developer:
- Phil Katz, PKWARE
- Initial release:
- 1989
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert a ZIP file to STL?
Drop the ZIP onto the tool on this page and click Download STL. It is read and converted by JavaScript running in your browser, so there is nothing to install, no account to make and no queue to wait in. 3MF and OBJ come off the same file with one more click.
Is this ZIP to STL converter free?
Yes. Free, no watermark, no file size limit, and no account needed to convert or to download. There is no paid tier of this tool to upsell you to.
Is my file uploaded anywhere?
No. The file is opened by code running in your browser tab and never sent to a server, which also means nothing is stored, logged or scanned. You can disconnect from the internet once the page has loaded and the converter keeps working. For a client's part under NDA that is the difference between usable and not.
Why does a ZIP need converting at all?
It does not, and that is the honest answer. A ZIP is a folder, not a 3D format, and the model inside it is already an STL or a 3MF. The reason people search for this is that a download from Printables, Thingiverse, MakerWorld or a Patreon arrives as one archive holding the printables, a licence, a readme and some renders, and most slicers will not look inside. This tool looks inside, finds the mesh and hands it over.
What if the archive holds several models?
All of them are read and come out as one file with each model as its own part, positioned as it was authored. If you only wanted one of them, the list under the preview tells you what was found so you know what you are getting.
Can I just unzip it myself?
Yes, and if you are on a desktop that is often quicker. This is for the cases where it is not: a phone or a Chromebook with no unzip tool, an archive with the model buried three folders down among fifty photos, or a macOS zip whose hidden __MACOSX twins confuse whatever you drop it into.
Is there a file size limit?
None imposed by the tool. The practical limit is your own machine's memory, since the file is held in the browser tab; a few hundred megabytes is fine on a desktop and less so on a phone. Nothing is queued or throttled because there is no server involved to queue it.