Online point cloud viewer free, no upload.
View a scanned point cloud in 3D, set the point size, colour by altitude and measure: everything runs in your browser, with no file upload.
Your file stays on your computer: nothing is uploaded.The file is read and displayed by your browser. No upload, no account, no analytics.
Drop your survey here
PLY, OBJ, GLB, glTF, STL, LAS, PCD, or a 2D plan as PNG or PDF. For an OBJ with textures, also drop its MTL and images, or the folder.
What is a point cloud?
A point cloud is the raw result of a scan: millions of points, each with an x, y, z position and sometimes a colour, spread over the measured surfaces. An iPhone Pro’s LiDAR, a terrestrial laser scanner, a photogrammetry drone or a robot with a depth sensor all produce them. Between the points there is no surface, which is what sets it apart from a mesh.
Common formats are PLY (exchange between scanning tools), LAS (surveying and airborne LiDAR), PCD (robotics, the PCL library) and OBJ when it holds only vertices. The viewer reads all four.
Tuning how a point cloud looks
With no surface, the rendering depends on point size: too small and the cloud looks full of holes, too large and it blurs the detail. A slider sets the size in pixels and you see the result immediately. Colours stored in the file are shown as they are; without colours, the cloud is coloured by altitude, with an amber ramp whose brightness follows height.
For a LAS or a surveying cloud, turn on “Z is up”: in surveying, Z is the elevation, whereas most mobile apps use Y. The ceiling cut (“Remove ceilings”) hides everything above a height, handy for looking inside a scanned building or gallery.
Very large clouds
A LAS survey can hold hundreds of millions of points, far more than a browser can draw. The viewer keeps at most fifteen million by keeping one point in N, and says so in the statistics. Coordinates are re-centred before display to avoid the artefacts of large coordinates (Lambert, UTM). Compressed LAZ is not read: decompress it to LAS with CloudCompare or LAStools.
Measuring in a point cloud
The measuring tool picks the point under the cursor, computes the distance in metres between two points and shows it on the view. The statistics give the number of points, the width × length × height bounding box and the height range.
View a point cloud online
Drop the file
Drag a PLY, LAS, PCD or OBJ file onto the drop zone.
Tune the points
Adjust the point size and choose real colours or altitude.
Orient
Turn on “Z is up” for a LAS or a surveying cloud.
Measure and capture
Measure between two points, then save the view as a PNG.
Frequently asked questions
Which point cloud formats can be read?
PLY (binary and ASCII), LAS, PCD (ASCII, binary, compressed) and OBJ without faces. Compressed LAZ must be converted to LAS first.
How many points can be displayed?
Several million on a recent computer. Above fifteen million points (LAS), the viewer keeps one in N to stay smooth.
Do the points keep their colours?
Yes when the file has them (red, green, blue per point). Otherwise an altitude ramp colours them.
Is my point cloud sent to a server?
No, processing happens in your browser.
Exporting a survey from the Lidark app
Open the survey in Lidark, then tap Export.
Pick PLY (recommended, with colours) or OBJ, or the 2D plan as PNG or PDF.
Save to Files, or send the file to yourself by AirDrop or email, then open it here.
The 2D plan is free; 3D export (PLY, OBJ) is part of Lidark Pro. This viewer is always free.