XYZ Point Cloud .xyz
One point per line. The simplest possible point cloud.
What an .xyz file holds
An XYZ file is a text file with one point per line: three coordinates, optionally followed by three colour values. That is the entire specification. Its simplicity makes it the universal fallback for surveying data, scientific point sets and anything exported from a spreadsheet or a script.
Commonly seen in: CloudCompare, MeshLab, surveying tools, scientific data exports.
| Data | Stored in XYZ |
|---|---|
| Geometry | No |
| Materials and colour | No |
| Texture maps | No |
| Animation and rigs | No |
| Scene hierarchy | No |
| Read here | Yes |
| Written here | Yes |
Tested against a real file
The last sweep loaded helix_201.xyz from three.js examples through the viewer on this site: 0 triangles across 0 meshes and 1 materials, in 1.9 seconds. Every format's result is on the test results page, run 2026-09-08.
What we put in an .xyz file we write
The vertices of the model, one point a line, with colour. Triangles are not written.
Convert XYZ to another format
Every pairing has a page saying what survives the trip.
Convert something else to XYZ
Other things to do with an .xyz file
Questions about XYZ
How do I open an .xyz 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 XYZ a good format to archive in?
XYZ stores . 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 XYZ 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.