Free STL to SKP converter
Convert STL files to SketchUp
Drop in an .stl and get a .skp with clean, editable faces instead of thousands of triangles. Real size in millimetres or inches, and the file stays on your device.
Experimental: results may vary. if you have problems.
How to convert STL to SKP
- Leave the units on millimetres unless you know the file is in inches.
- Click Choose a .stl file above, or drag the file onto the box.
- Check the model size under the result.
- Click Download .skp and open it in SketchUp with File › Open.
Editable faces, not a triangle mesh
An STL is nothing but triangles. Imported as they are, every flat side of a part is split by diagonal lines, and pushing or pulling a face is impossible because there's no face to grab. Before writing the .skp, this converter rebuilds the faces:
- Flat areas become one face, holes included, so a plate with a hole comes back as one face with a hole you can push and pull.
- Straight edges stay straight: the extra points a triangulation leaves along an edge are removed.
- Curves look smooth: edges inside curved surfaces, gentler than 20°, are softened and smoothed, as SketchUp's own Soften Edges would do.
- Upright and to scale: STL's Z axis stays up, as in SketchUp, at the real size in the unit you pick.
How we checked it
Simple shapes come back the way you'd draw them: a 1 m cube made of 12 triangles becomes 6 faces, a 24-sided cylinder of 96 triangles becomes 26 faces with its side softened, and a square plate with a square hole comes back with one face on top and one underneath, each with its hole. A 20 MB house exported to STL (325,669 triangles) converted in a few seconds at the right size, to the millimetre.
Other ways to get an STL into SketchUp
- SketchUp desktop imports STL itself (File › Import), with an option to merge coplanar faces. If you have it, that works too.
- No SketchUp at hand, or sending the model to someone who'd rather just open a .skp? That's what this converter is for.
Related tools
Going the other way? The SKP to STL converter makes a print-ready STL with a watertight check. For OBJ and COLLADA files, use the OBJ to SKP and DAE to SKP converters.
STL to SKP questions
Is this STL to SKP converter free?
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Yes. There's no sign-up, no watermark and no daily limit. The conversion runs on your own device, so there's nothing for us to charge for.
Is my file uploaded?
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No. Your browser reads the STL and writes the SketchUp file itself. We never receive the model.
Which units should I pick?
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STL files don't record their units. Almost all of them, from Thingiverse, Printables and every slicer, are in millimetres, so that's the default. If the model size under the result looks 25 times too big or small, try inches.
Binary or ASCII STL?
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Both work. The converter tells them apart on its own.
Why is my model one color?
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STL stores shape only, with no colors or materials, so every face gets SketchUp's default material. Paint it in SketchUp afterwards.
Which SketchUp versions can open the result?
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SketchUp 2017 and every version since, including the current one. Pick SketchUp 2016 under "Save for" if that's what you have. SketchUp 2015 and older aren't supported.
Very small details went missing. Why?
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SketchUp can't hold edges shorter than about 0.03 mm (a thousandth of an inch). Triangles smaller than that are left out, and the result says how many. For a tiny part, scale it up 10 or 100 times by picking a bigger unit, edit it, and scale back down when you export.
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