LightWave Scene .lws
LightWave’s scene file. Placement, cameras and motion.
What an .lws file holds
Where a .lwo holds a single object, the .lws scene file assembles them: which objects load, where they sit, how they are parented, plus cameras, lights and keyframed motion. Opening a LightWave project properly means reading the scene, not just the objects it points at.
Also seen as .mot.
Commonly seen in: LightWave 3D, broadcast graphics, legacy VFX pipelines.
| Data | Stored in LWS |
|---|---|
| Geometry | Yes |
| Materials and colour | Yes |
| Texture maps | Yes |
| Animation and rigs | Yes |
| Scene hierarchy | Yes |
| Read here | Yes |
| Written here | No |
Tested against a real file
The last sweep loaded move_x.lws from Assimp test models with its 12 sidecar files through the viewer on this site: 36 triangles across 1 meshes and 1 materials, in 2.3 seconds. Every format's result is on the test results page, run 2026-09-08.
Files to bring with it
The .lwo objects the scene references should be dropped in with it.
Convert LWS to another format
Every pairing has a page saying what survives the trip.
Other things to do with an .lws file
Questions about LWS
How do I open an .lws file?
Drop it into the viewer on this site and it opens in the browser, with the scene tree, the materials and the mesh statistics. Nothing is uploaded. If you want it in another program instead, convert it to GLB, which almost everything reads.
Is LWS a good format to archive in?
LWS carries geometry, materials, textures and animation, so an archive copy keeps nearly everything. The usual caveat applies: a format is only as future-proof as the readers that exist for it, and .lws is well served.
Does converting LWS lose quality?
Geometry is copied vertex for vertex, so the shape does not degrade. What gets lost is whatever the target format has no field for: convert to STL and the materials go, convert to OBJ and the animation goes. The comparison table on each converter page says exactly which.
Formats that hold the same things
Or go back to the full format reference.