Microsoft 3D Viewer is gone: what to use instead

What happened to 3D Viewer

The app had three names. It arrived in Windows 10 in 2017 as View 3D, was renamed Mixed Reality Viewer later that year, and became 3D Viewer in 2018. Microsoft's deprecated features list now records it as deprecated in February 2026 and removed from the Microsoft Store on July 1, 2026. It went the same way as its siblings: Paint 3D left the Store on November 4, 2024, and 3D Builder in July 2024.

Microsoft's notice is about the Store listing. If you still have the app installed it may keep opening files, but it will not be updated, so it is worth moving to something maintained.

The replacement Microsoft recommends

For "viewing 3D content", Microsoft's notice links to Babylon.js Sandbox. It is a browser page, so there is nothing to install, though you can add it as an app from the browser menu if you want a Start-menu shortcut. It reads glTF, GLB, OBJ, STL and PLY, which covers most of what 3D Viewer opened. It does not list FBX.

Alternatives by what you need

• Just look at GLB, OBJ or STL files. Babylon.js Sandbox. It is closest to the old experience: drag the file in, orbit, zoom.
• Open FBX files. Blender is free and its importer handles both modern and older FBX files. If Blender feels like too much, Autodesk still offers FBX Review as a free download for viewing models and animation. See how to open FBX files.
• Open CAD or unusual formats. Online 3D Viewer is open source and reads STEP, IGES, 3DS, 3MF, FBX and more.
• Edit, not just view. Blender. It is the tool most people end up in, and our Blender import guide covers bringing models in at the right scale.
• Prepare a 3D print. 3D Viewer was often used to glance at STL files before printing. Your printer's slicer software opens STL and shows the model on the build plate, which is more useful than any general viewer.

Things 3D Viewer did that you may miss

3D Viewer could show a model in mixed reality through a webcam and play embedded animations. Browser viewers play glTF animations too. For seeing a model in your real room, a phone now does it better than a webcam did: see viewing 3D models on your phone.

If you used 3D Viewer to browse its library

3D Viewer shipped with a library of sample models. That library went with the app. If you were using it as a source of ready-made objects, you have two options: a model marketplace, or generating the object yourself. Vi3W does the second. Describe the object or upload a sketch, and you get a 3D model you can rotate in the browser and download as GLB, FBX or OBJ.