Open 3ds file

3ds file icon Did your computer fail to open 3ds file? We explain what 3ds files are and recommend software that we know can open your 3ds files.

What is 3ds file?

Files with 3ds file extension can be commonly found as 3D computer graphics created using 3D Studio Max software as well its successor product 3ds Max by Autodesk.

3ds file description

The 3ds file extension is associated with a 3D Studio Max 3D graphic file format.

3DS was the default file format of the old Autodesk 3D Studio DOS, which was popular until its successor (3D Studio MAX 1.0) replaced it in April 1996.

Historically, 3ds is an ancient file format coming from the mid 1980s 16-bit era of home computing, in particular the Atari|ST computer and Tom Hudson's CAD-3D program. As such, it is not a good file format for modern data translation. It has no ability to convey all-important vertex normals (for geometry smoothing); it is limited to DOS 8.3 filenames for texture maps; each object is limited to only 64k polygons and vertices; all meshes must be triangles; object names are limited to only 10 characters and material names to 16 characters. 

The 3ds file format is a merger of the old 1985-era Atari|ST computer's CAD-3D .3d2 file format (from Tom Hudson) and the Antic Animator file formats.

Having been around since 1990 (when the first version of 3D Studio DOS was launched), it has grown to become a de facto industry standard for transferring models between 3D programs, or for storing models for 3D resource catalogs (along with OBJ, which is more frequently used as a model archiving file format).

MIME types used for 3ds Max files:
application/x-3ds
image/x-3ds

Software that will open 3ds file

3ds Max (3D Studio Max)

A widely-used 3D animation application from Autodesk

Other 3ds file extensions

3ds - Nintendo 3DS ROM image

Files with 3ds extension are related to the ROM image format used by emulators of Nintendo 3DS portable game console.

What file extension actually is?

Simply put, file extensions are the characters after the dot in the file name, so for example filename.mp3 has file extension „mp3“. This helps Windows to identify which program should be used to open the file.

We can help you to open your file

Our database contains a huge list of different file extensions, usually with detailed description and programs that can be used to open or otherwise work with that particular file type.

Only original software

Every software listed in our database is verified and ve provide link to the developer or to the software own website, which should hopefuly be enough for you to download the most recent version of the program.