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Specification

The 3D Manufacturing Format (3MF) is a 3D printing format that allows design applications to send full-fidelity 3D models to a mix of other applications, platforms, services and printers. The 3MF specification allows companies to focus on innovation, rather than on basic interoperability issues, and it is engineered to avoid the problems associated with other 3D file formats.

SpecificationISO/IEC 25422ISO PDFLatest Rev. PDFGithubDescriptionUpdated
3MF Core Specificationv1.3.0v1.3.0v1.4.0GithubCore 3MF Mesh Specification02/27/2025
Beam Lattice Extensionv1.2.0v1.2.0GithubBeam lattice structures as graph of nodes and beam diameter02/27/2025
Boolean Operations Extensionv1.1.0v1.1.0GithubBoolean operations for shape modification02/27/2025
Displacement Extension v1.0.0
Github3D Textured meshes by modifying mesh surface with displacement mapping02/27/2025
Materials and Properties Extensionv1.2.1v1.2.1GithubFull color and multi-material definitions02/27/2025
Production Extensionv1.1.2v1.1.2GithubNon-object resources & attributes to the build section for uniquely identifying parts within a particular 3MF package02/27/2025
Secure Content Extensionv1.0.2v1.0.2GithubEncryption mechanism to protect the 3MF content files02/27/2025
Slice Extensionv1.0.2v1.0.2Github2D sliced model data in a 3MF package02/27/2025
Volumetric Extensionv0.8.0GithubSupport for voxel and/or implicit data within 3mf files02/27/2025

The specification is currently under development to be recognised as an International Standard:
ISO/IEC DIS 25422 Information technology — 3D Manufacturing Format (3MF) specification suite.
Under Technical Committee : ISO/IEC JTC 1 – ICS : 25.030 35.240.50

For information on supported software, hardware and services support 3MF, see the 3MF Compatibility Matrix.

3MF members have agreed to make their necessary patent claims available for implementations of the 3MF Core Specification and all public 3MF extension specifications on a royalty-free basis.

The 3MF Consortium is a Joint Development Foundation Projects, LLC series. The Joint Development Foundation is a non-profit organization and affiliate of the Linux Foundation that provides the corporate and legal infrastructure to enable groups to establish and operate standards and source code development collaborations.

Libraries and Samples

Test Suites