FBX

FBX is a proprietary 3D asset exchange format used to transfer complex 3D data between different software applications. Originally developed by Kaydara as Filmbox in the 1990s, it was acquired by Autodesk in 2006 and has since become a widely adopted standard in animation, visual effects, and game development.

The format is designed to preserve a broad range of scene information. It supports geometric data such as meshes, vertices, normals, UVs, and topology, as well as materials, textures, cameras, and lights. It also encodes animation data, including skeletal hierarchies and skinning (rigging), morph targets or blend shapes, animation curves, and animation layers or stacks. In addition, it can store scene structure, constraints, and other metadata needed to reproduce a scene in another application.

FBX exists in both ASCII and binary variants, with the binary form being more compact and common in production workflows. Autodesk provides the FBX Software Development Kit (SDK), which offers APIs for C++, C#, and other languages to read, write, and manipulate FBX files, enabling developers to build importers, exporters, or converters for diverse pipelines. A wide ecosystem of exporters and importers exists for major 3D applications such as Maya, 3ds Max, MotionBuilder, Blender (via add-ons), Houdini, Unity, and Unreal Engine, reflecting FBX’s role as a de facto interoperability standard.

While FBX remains popular, its proprietary nature means compatibility can vary between versions and tools. Users often export to a common FBX version or test through their target applications to ensure data fidelity. Alternatives such as Collada and glTF are used for certain workflows, but FBX remains a dominant bridge in many production pipelines.