Doom 3 Model .md5mesh
Doom 3’s skeletal format. Readable text, real bones.
What an .md5mesh file holds
MD5 was id Software’s break from vertex animation: a proper skeleton with joints and per-vertex skin weights, split across a .md5mesh file for the geometry and .md5anim files for the motion. It is plain text and deliberately legible, which made it a favourite for engine programmers learning skeletal animation.
Also seen as .md5.
Commonly seen in: Doom 3, Quake 4, idTech 4 games, open-source engines.
| Data | Stored in MD5 |
|---|---|
| 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 Bob.md5mesh from Assimp test models with its 7 sidecar files through the viewer on this site: 1,027 triangles across 6 meshes and 6 materials, in 2.5 seconds. Every format's result is on the test results page, run 2026-09-08.
Files to bring with it
Drop the matching .md5anim files in alongside the mesh to bring the animation with it.
Convert MD5 to another format
Every pairing has a page saying what survives the trip.
Other things to do with an .md5mesh file
Questions about MD5
How do I open an .md5mesh 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 MD5 a good format to archive in?
MD5 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 .md5mesh is well served.
Does converting MD5 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.