3DS is one of the file formats used by the Autodesk 3ds Max 3D modeling, animation and rendering software. It was the native file format of the old Autodesk 3D Studio DOS (releases 1 to 4), which was popular until its successor (3D Studio MAX 1.0) replaced it in April 1996. Having been around since 1990 (when the first version of 3D Studio DOS was launched), it has grown to become a de facto industry standard for transferring models between 3D programs, or for storing models for 3D resource catalogs (along with OBJ, which is more frequently used as a model archiving file format). While the 3DS format aims to provide an import/export format, retaining only essential geometry, texture and lighting data, the related MAX format (now superseded by the PRJ format) also contains extra information specific to Autodesk 3ds Max, to allow a scene to be completely saved/loaded.

COLLADA (COLLAborative Design Activity) is an interchange file format for interactive 3D applications. It is managed by the nonprofit technology consortium, the Khronos Group, and has been adopted by ISO as a publicly available specification, ISO/PAS 17506. COLLADA defines an open standard XML schema for exchanging digital assets among various graphics software applications that might otherwise store their assets in incompatible file formats. COLLADA documents that describe digital assets are XML files, usually identified with a .dae (digital asset exchange) filename extension.

FBX (Filmbox) is a proprietary file format (.fbx) developed by Kaydara and owned by Autodesk since 2006. It is used to provide interoperability between digital content creation applications. FBX is also part of Autodesk Gameware, a series of video game middleware.

The Initial Graphics Exchange Specification (IGES) (pronounced eye-jess) is a vendor-neutral file format that allows the digital exchange of information among computer-aided design (CAD) systems. The official title of IGES is Digital Representation for Communication of Product Definition Data, first published in January, 1980 by the U.S. National Bureau of Standards as NBSIR 80-1978. Many documents (like early versions of the Defense Standards MIL-PRF-28000 and MIL-STD-1840) referred to it as ASME Y14.26M, the designation of the ANSI committee that approved IGES Version 1.0. Using IGES, a CAD user can exchange product data models in the form of circuit diagrams, wireframe, freeform surface or solid modeling representations. Applications supported by IGES include traditional engineering drawings, models for analysis, and other manufacturing functions.

Intergraph Standard File Formats (ISFF) are the file formats common to MicroStation and Intergraph's Interactive Graphics Design System (IGDS). ISFF is made available to the public, so that third-party developers could create applications for MicroStation that read and write ISFF format without a license from Intergraph. Design files, or DGN files (*.dgn) are binary files with variable-length records for graphic elements, and non-graphic data. Cell library files (*.cel) are binary files that store cell definitions for placement in design files. MicroStation versions 8 and newer support the V8 DGN file format, but which has a different internal data structure than the ISFF-based DGN. In cases where there is potential for confusion, ISFF-based DGN may be called Intergraph DGN, or V7 DGN. Autodesk has chosen not to support DGN in AutoCAD 2006, although it does support the format in its Map3D, Land Desktop, and Civil3D products.

STEP-File is the most widely used data exchange form of STEP. ISO 10303 can represent 3D objects in Computer-aided design (CAD) and related information. Due to its ASCII structure a STEP-file is easy to read with typically one instance per line. The format of a STEP-File is defined in ISO 10303-21 Clear Text Encoding of the Exchange Structure. ISO 10303-21 defines the encoding mechanism for representing data conforming to a particular schema in the EXPRESS data modeling language specified in ISO 10303-11. A STEP-File is also called p21-File and STEP Physical File. The file extensions .stp and .step indicate that the file contains data conforming to STEP Application Protocols while the extension .p21 should be used for all other purposes.

JT (Jupiter Tesselation) is an ISO-standardized 3D data format and is in industry used for product visualization, collaboration, CAD data exchange, and in some also for long-term data retention. It can contain any combination of approximate (faceted) data, boundary representation surfaces (NURBS), Product and Manufacturing Information (PMI), and Metadata (textual attributes) either exported from the native CAD system or inserted by a product data management (PDM) system.

Keyhole Markup Language (KML) is an XML notation for expressing geographic annotation and visualization within Internet-based, two-dimensional maps and three-dimensional Earth browsers. KML was developed for use with Google Earth, which was originally named Keyhole Earth Viewer. It was created by Keyhole, Inc, which was acquired by Google in 2004. KML became an international standard of the Open Geospatial Consortium in 2008. Google Earth was the first program able to view and graphically edit KML files. Other projects such as Marble have also started to develop KML support.

An incomplete list of parts making up STEP (ISO 10303):

Parasolid is a geometric modeling kernel originally developed by Shape Data Limited, now owned by Siemens PLM Software (formerly UGS Corp.), that can be licensed by other companies for use in their 3D computer graphics software products. Parasolid's capabilities include model creation and editing utilities such as Boolean modeling operators, feature modeling support, advanced surfacing, thickening and hollowing, blending and filleting and sheet modeling. Parasolid also includes tools for direct model editing, including tapering, offsetting, geometry replacement and removal of feature details with automated regeneration of surrounding data. Parasolid also provides wide-ranging graphical and rendering support, including hidden-line, wireframe and drafting, tessellation and model data inquiries. When exported from the parent software package, a Parasolid commonly has the file extension .x_t. Another format is .x_b, which is in binary format so it is more machine independent and not subject to binary-to-text conversion errors. Most Parasolid files can communicate and migrate only 3D solids and/or surface data - Parasolid files currently cannot communicate and migrate 2D data such as lines and arcs. To use Parasolid effectively, users need to have fundamental knowledge of CAGD, computational geometry and topology.