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load 40+ 3D formats into a shared scene structure and integrate conversion and post-processing into asset pipelines

OSS scale score 299.5OSS health 88Update pace 37 commits/30d
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Stars
13,242
Primary language
C++
License
Not determined
Repository last updated
Oct 3, 2026
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Overview

Assimp (Open Asset Import Library) is a C/C++ library that imports more than 40 3D formats, including FBX, glTF, COLLADA, and STL, into a shared in-memory scene representation. It lets applications normalize format differences before passing meshes, materials, and animations into their own asset processing or rendering layers.

Features and best fit

Based on official documentation; not hands-on tested · Content checked:

Key features

Normalize many 3D formats into one scene representation

Applications can avoid maintaining a separate loader for every source format and instead consume a common scene, mesh, material, and animation model. The project supports more than 40 import formats and a growing set of export formats.

Sources: [1][3]

Post-process imported meshes for downstream use

Post-processing includes normal and tangent generation, triangulation, vertex-cache locality optimization, removal of duplicate vertices or degenerate primitives, and material cleanup.

Sources: [1]

Embed C/C++ APIs or optional command-line tooling in asset workflows

The implementation is C++ with a C API, runs across multiple platforms including Android and iOS, and can build optional tools such as assimp-cmd through CMake options.

Sources: [1][2]

Best fit

Fits game engines, viewers, converters, and other multi-format asset pipelines

It is useful when products accept assets from multiple authoring tools and need one import boundary before their own renderer, converter, or content-processing stages.

Sources: [1]

Before adoption

Treat it as an import and conversion layer, not a renderer or DCC application

Assimp does not replace GPU resource creation, shading, scene management, or editor workflows. Those responsibilities remain with the consuming engine or application.

Sources: [1]

Source builds require CMake plus C++17 and C99-capable compilers

The official build instructions require CMake and appropriate compilers. Shared/static output, tools, tests, and other features are controlled through build options and should be matched to the intended distribution.

Sources: [2]

GitHub reports NOASSERTION, so review the repository license text directly

The v6.0.5 README describes the project as based on a modified 3-clause BSD license, while the LICENSE contains the redistribution and endorsement conditions. Review the actual license text for your distribution rather than inferring terms from repository metadata alone.

Sources: [1][4][5]

Official sources

  1. [1]Assimp v6.0.5 README(2026-10-03)
  2. [2]Assimp v6.0.5 build instructions(2026-10-03)
  3. [3]Assimp supported file formats(2026-10-03)
  4. [4]Assimp v6.0.5 LICENSE(2026-10-03)
  5. [5]Assimp v6.0.5 release(2026-10-03)
Supplemental curator note

Assimp is valuable when an application should not maintain a separate parser for every 3D asset format. It is an import/export and processing library rather than a renderer, so define the boundary with your rendering and asset-conversion pipeline before adoption.

Try it in 3 steps

  1. 1

    Clone the Assimp v6.0.5 source

    Fetch a pinned stable release. Building requires CMake and compilers with C++17 and C99 support.

    git clone --branch v6.0.5 --depth 1 https://github.com/assimp/assimp.git && cd assimp
  2. 2

    Configure a minimal Ninja build

    Follow the README developer quickstart while disabling tests and installation for a minimal local build check.

    cmake -G Ninja -DASSIMP_BUILD_TESTS=off -DASSIMP_INSTALL=off -S . -B build
  3. 3

    Build the library

    Compile the configured build directory and verify that the 3D asset importer library builds successfully in this environment.

    cmake --build build
Check the official README

Growth

Growth trends · Last 30 days

13,242 Stars

Trend data is still being collected.

Development activity

Last 90 days · weekly

Commits (last 30 days)
37
Open PRs
74

Development activity is still being collected.

Built with

Categories and tags

Categories

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GitHub data

GitHub dataView detailed GitHub data
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GitHub Topics

  • asset-pipeline
  • assets
  • game-development
  • c-plus-plus
  • assimp
  • patreon
  • stl
  • dae
  • collada
  • ifc
  • fbx
  • android
Stars
13,242
Forks
3,249
Watchers
299
Open issues
479
Contributors
340
Owner type
Organization
Primary language
C++
License
Not determined
Repository last updated
Oct 3, 2026
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