A 3D logo is only useful if it opens where you need it. Each 3D file format was built for a different job, and a logo usually needs a few of them: one for 3D software, one for phones, one for a printer, plus flat images for everyday posting. Here is what each one is for. The 3D logo generator exports all of them in one zip.
The short answer
| Format | Use it for | Keeps the finish |
|---|---|---|
| GLB | 3D apps, web, games, Photism | Yes |
| USDZ | AR on iPhone, iPad, Vision Pro | Yes |
| OBJ | Older 3D software | Shape only |
| STL | 3D printing | Shape only |
| PNG | Posts, covers, mockups | As rendered |
| SVG | Print, web, re-editing the flat logo | Flat outline |
GLB: the one to reach for first
GLB is the binary form of glTF, the open standard for 3D on the web. One file holds the geometry and the material together, so a chrome logo stays chrome when it opens somewhere else. Blender imports it with File, Import, glTF 2.0. Spline, three.js, model viewers on the web, Unreal Engine and recent versions of After Effects read it too, and so does Photism, which puts a dropped GLB on its limitless 3d turntable.
A .gltf file holds the same data as text that points to separate geometry and texture files. GLB packs it all into one file, which is why it is the easier one to send.
USDZ: AR on Apple devices
USDZ is Apple’s format for augmented reality. Tap a USDZ in Safari, Files or Messages on an iPhone or iPad and AR Quick Look places the logo in the room through the camera, at real size, so you can walk around it. It opens the same way on Vision Pro and in Reality Composer. It is a strong way to show a client or a label the logo before it exists as a sign or a sculpture.
OBJ: the old reliable
OBJ has been around since the 1990s and nearly every 3D program opens it. It is plain geometry: the shape, without the finish. Use it when an app refuses a GLB, then set the material up in that app.
STL: for the 3D printer
STL describes a surface as triangles and nothing else, which is exactly what a slicer needs. Cura, PrusaSlicer and Bambu Studio open it directly. STL has no units written in it, and slicers read it as millimetres. The generator exports it 100 mm across the longest side, face up on the bed, so it prints at a sensible size with no rotating. Scale it in the slicer for a keychain or a wall piece.
PNG renders and the SVG
Most places a logo goes are flat: Instagram, a cover, a website header. The zip includes three transparent PNG renders, from the front and both sides, about 2400 pixels wide and cropped to the logo, so you can use the 3D look anywhere an image goes.
It also includes an SVG of the traced outline. If you started from a low-resolution PNG, that SVG is a clean vector version of your logo, useful for printing and for the next designer you work with.
Which ones you need
- Album cover or post: the PNG renders.
- Animation or a music video: GLB into Blender, or into Photism for visuals that move with the track.
- Showing a client: USDZ on an iPhone.
- A physical logo: STL to a printer.
The 3D logo generator gives you all of them for one $2.99 download, so there is no need to pick up front. For the full walkthrough, read how to make a 3D logo from a PNG or SVG.