3DM

3DM is the native format of Rhinoceros 3D (Rhino) and one of the most common file types in industrial design, architecture, and jewelry design. It accurately represents complex shapes using NURBS surfaces and solids, while also storing mesh, layers, materials, and annotation data, enabling lossless round-trip within the Rhino ecosystem.

The openness of 3DM depends on the toolchain: software other than Rhino needs support or conversion to open it, and files exported from different Rhino versions may not be fully compatible. When NURBS data is converted to mesh, accuracy is reduced according to the subdivision level, so models that require further editing should retain the original 3DM file.