VOX files (.vox): what they hold and how to convert them

What a .vox file holds

VOX is MagicaVoxel’s native format: a compact list of occupied voxels on an integer grid plus a 256-entry colour palette. Converting it to a polygon format turns each visible voxel face into geometry with the palette colour attached, which is exactly what you want when a voxel model needs to reach a renderer, a game engine or a 3D printer.

Commonly seen in: MagicaVoxel, Goxel, voxel game pipelines.

Data	Stored in VOX
Geometry	Yes
Materials and colour	Yes
Texture maps	No
Animation and rigs	No
Scene hierarchy	Yes
Read here	Yes
Written here	No

Tested against a real file

The last sweep loaded monu10.vox from three.js examples through the viewer on this site: 11,048 triangles across 1 meshes and 1 materials, in 2.9 seconds. Every format's result is on the test results page, run 2026-09-08.

Which way is up

VOX is a Z-up format, which most of the rest of 3D is not. Files are read exactly as written and stood up for you in the viewer; the converter has a switch for it, so a model does not arrive in the next program lying on its side.

Questions about VOX

How do I open a .vox 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 VOX a good format to archive in?

VOX stores geometry, materials and colour, scene hierarchy. Anything outside that list will not be in the file at all, so archive the original alongside it if the surfacing or the rig matters.

Does converting VOX 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.

MagicaVoxel .vox