File extension

.ply

Stanford Triangle Format v1.0 plus MATLAB example functions

.ply files are Polygon File Format (Stanford Triangle Format) models: a flexible 3D format for storing polygon meshes and scanned point data with arbitrary per-element properties, in ASCII or binary.

Known meanings

Formats and reference material for .ply

Stanford Triangle Format v1.0 plus MATLAB example functions

Stanford Triangle Format v1.0 plus MATLAB example functions

  • 3d-graphics
  • Pascal Getreuer
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Autodesk Animator Polygon File Format

Autodesk Animator Polygon File Format

  • 2d-graphics
  • Max Maischein
  • Historical
Missing file

Details

Format notes

Polygon File Format (PLY)

PLY, also called the Stanford Triangle Format, was developed at Stanford to store 3D data from scanners, and it is widely used in 3D scanning, computer graphics research, and geometry processing. Its distinguishing feature is a flexible, self-describing header that lets a file declare exactly which properties each element carries, so PLY can hold not just vertices and faces but also colors, normals, texture coordinates, transparency, confidence values, and custom per-vertex or per-face attributes.

A PLY file starts with an ASCII header beginning with the word ply and a format line stating whether the body is ASCII or binary (and, for binary, the byte order). The header then defines each “element” (such as vertex and face) with its count and a list of typed property fields. The body supplies the data in that exact layout. This design makes PLY equally suited to dense scanned point clouds and to conventional polygon meshes.

Strengths And Preservation Notes

PLY is favored where per-vertex attributes from scanning or analysis must be preserved, which many simpler formats (like STL or basic OBJ) cannot represent. It does not model scene hierarchy, animation, or materials beyond simple per-element attributes. For preservation the ASCII form is the most self-explanatory, while the binary form is far more compact for large clouds; recording which was used and the property meanings keeps the data interpretable.

Security Notes

Because element counts and property lists in the header drive parsing and allocation, a reader handling untrusted PLY should validate counts against the actual data size and check that face indices reference valid vertices.

Further Reading

  • PLY format description: https://paulbourke.net/dataformats/ply/