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Sketchfab download: how to get models, which format to pick, and where Fab fits
How to download from Sketchfab, original vs glTF vs USDZ, what the Creative Commons licences require, and how Epic's Fab replaced the store.
2 min read
Quick answer
How do you download a model from Sketchfab?
Sign in, open a model marked downloadable, and click Download. Sketchfab offers the creator's original file plus automatic glTF, GLB and USDZ conversions when it can make them. Check the licence in the download window: most free models are Creative Commons and need credit. Paid models from the old Sketchfab Store now sell on Epic's Fab marketplace.
Step by step
- Sign in. Downloads need an account.
- Find downloadable models. Use the search filter for downloadable models. Many Sketchfab models are view-only, and their creators chose not to share the files.
- Click Download under the viewer.
- Read the licence shown in the download window. It includes a ready attribution line to copy.
- Pick a format.
Which format to pick
According to Sketchfab's help page on glTF, GLB and USDZ, each downloadable model comes as:
- Original format: whatever the creator uploaded (FBX, OBJ, BLEND and so on). Most faithful, but sometimes in a format your tool can't open.
- glTF (as a ZIP) and GLB: automatic conversions, when Sketchfab can make them. Sometimes in several texture resolutions. Best for Godot, three.js, the web and most game engines. GLB vs glTF.
- USDZ: made from the glTF, for Apple AR Quick Look. Anything glTF can't represent is missing here too.
For Blender, either the original or GLB is fine. For Unity, FBX (often the original) or glTF with a plugin. For printing, see GLB to STL.
Licences, briefly
Free Sketchfab downloads are mostly Creative Commons:
- CC0: no credit needed.
- CC BY: credit the creator.
- CC BY-NC: credit, and no commercial use.
- CC BY-SA / ND: share-alike or no derivatives.
Free 3D models for commercial use and can I use free assets in my game? go deeper.
Sketchfab, Fab and the old store
Epic Games owns Sketchfab. In October 2024 it launched Fab, a single marketplace that took over the Sketchfab Store, the Unreal Engine Marketplace and Quixel, with ArtStation's marketplace following. Paid models you would once have bought on Sketchfab are now listed on Fab. Sketchfab itself carries on as a 3D viewer and hosting site, and free downloads still work as above.
When the model you need isn't there
Sketchfab is huge, but a specific prop in your game's style rarely exists. Generate vs download compares the two routes. Vi3W makes one from a sketch or reference image, retopologised and exported as GLB, FBX or OBJ.
Try it
Open Vi3W and make the model you couldn't find.
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