3DMF File

What are 3DMF files and how to open them

Are you having problems opening a 3DMF file or are you simply curious about its contents? We're here to explain the properties of these files and provide you with software that can open or handle your 3DMF files.

What is a 3DMF file?

A .3DMF file is a QuickDraw 3D Meta file.

QuickDraw 3D Metafile ("3DMF", extension .3dmf) is a 3D scene description file originally developed by Apple in 1995 for its QuickDraw 3D (QD3D) framework. It serves as an interchange format for storing complete 3D models or scenes: geometry, lighting, textures, cameras, and other attributes. It was designed to be extensible so that custom data may be attached to 3D objects.

Files in this format are produced by applications using Apple's QuickDraw 3D API. They may be saved in either a human-readable ASCII form (for debugging or editing) or as a compact binary form (for efficient storage and rendering). They support different organization modes - normal, stream, or database - to control how shared objects and references are handled within the file.

A 3DMF file begins with a file header called 3DMetafile, which holds fields for major and minor version numbers, flags defining organization mode, and a file pointer to a Table of Contents. In binary files, values are encoded in fixed-size integer or floating-point formats; in ASCII files, they appear as text with keywords like "Normal", "Stream", or "Database". The text header may look like: 3DMetafile ( 1 6 Normal toc> )

How to open 3DMF files

Important: Different programs may use files with the 3DMF file extension for different purposes, so unless you are sure which format your 3DMF file is, you may need to try a few different programs.

While we have not verified the app ourselves yet, our users have suggested a single 3DMF opener which you will find listed below.

Last updated: August 16, 2026

Various apps that use files with this extension

These apps are known to open certain types of 3DMF files. Remember, different programs may use 3DMF files for different purposes, so you may need to try out a few of them to be able to open your specific file.

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