Free Online PCD Viewer (No Signup)
Also opens DWG, DXF, STEP, IGES, IFC, SKP, STL, OBJ, GLB, FBX, 3DM and other 3D/CAD files. Drop any file on the viewer.
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Also from Innerscene: Circadian Lab, a free lighting calculator for room illuminance, melanopic EML, and glare.
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Describe what you need, or add a photo, and AI builds it at real size in the viewer. Ask for changes in the chat, then export it. Free, with your own Anthropic or OpenAI key.
Open the AI GeneratorWhat Is a PCD File?
A .pcd file starts with a short text header that lists the fields every point carries (x y z, then often rgb, intensity or normal_x and the like), the size and type of each, the number of points, and the sensor pose. The points follow as one line of text each (ascii), as fixed-size binary records (binary), or as an LZF-compressed block that stores each field for all points in turn (binary_compressed).
Colour is usually packed into a single field named rgb: the red, green and blue bytes stored in the bits of one 4-byte value. A cloud from a depth camera is often organized, laid out as the camera’s image (WIDTH by HEIGHT), with empty points written as NaN where the camera saw nothing. PCD stores no unit; PCL and the tools around it work in meters.
For survey and airborne LiDAR, see the LAS / LAZ viewer; for laser scans exchanged between scanning programs, the E57 viewer.
Who Uses PCD Files?
Robotics and autonomous-vehicle engineers working with ROS, PCL and Open3D; mapping teams whose LiDAR SLAM tools (LIO-SAM, FAST-LIO, hdl_graph_slam, Autoware) save their maps as .pcd; researchers and students in 3D vision; developers capturing with depth cameras such as Intel RealSense, Azure Kinect and the Orbbec range; and anyone who is sent one of those files without PCL or CloudCompare on the computer in front of them.
Common Use Cases
- Look at a LiDAR SLAM map or a ROS capture without installing PCL or CloudCompare
- Check that a depth-camera capture saved its colours and has no holes
- Measure distances and heights on the cloud
- Share a cloud with a colleague as a link they can orbit in a browser
- Convert a PCD to PLY, LAS, XYZ or GLB for another program
Features
Opens .pcd Files
Clouds from PCL, ROS, Open3D, CloudCompare and LiDAR SLAM tools, loose or inside a .zip.
Ascii, Binary and Compressed
All three PCD data layouts, LZF binary_compressed included, with any combination of fields.
Large Files, Read in Pieces
The file is read in pieces in a background worker, so a cloud of hundreds of megabytes opens without loading it whole into memory.
Even Sampling
Points are kept evenly, up to 5 million on a desktop, and the status line shows how many of how many are drawn.
Colour and Intensity
Packed rgb or rgba colour, or separate r g b fields; a cloud with only intensity gets a gray ramp.
Organized Clouds
Depth-camera clouds open with their holes (NaN points) left out.
Sensor Pose Applied
The VIEWPOINT translation and rotation place the cloud the way PCL does.
Files Cut Short
A file that was cut off opens with the points it holds, and the status line says so.
Measure on the Cloud
Click two points to measure a distance or a height, in meters.
Convert to PLY, LAS or XYZ
Export the coloured cloud as PLY, LAS, PCD, XYZ, OBJ, GLB, VRML or Rhino 3DM, or save the view as PDF, PNG or JPG.
Nothing Is Uploaded
The cloud is read entirely in your browser. No account, no upload, no copy on a server.
Share and Embed
Send a link that opens the cloud in any browser, or drop the viewer into your own page with one iframe.
Compatibility & Format Notes
All three data layouts open: ascii, binary and binary_compressed, with any combination of fields, sizes, types and counts, padding fields included. Positions come from the x, y and z fields; points with an undefined (NaN) position, the holes of an organized cloud, are left out. The VIEWPOINT pose in the header places the cloud the way PCL’s own viewer does.
Colour comes from a packed rgb or rgba field (float or integer) or from separate r g b fields; a cloud with only intensity is shaded on a gray ramp. Normals and other fields are read past. The cloud is taken as meters with Z up, the convention of LiDAR maps.
The file is read a few megabytes at a time in a background worker, and points are sampled evenly as they are read: up to 5 million on a desktop, 2.5 million or 1 million on smaller devices. The status line then shows how many of how many points are drawn. A file that was cut short opens with the points it holds, and the status line says how many of the declared points arrived. Files past a size ceiling set by the device’s memory (512 MB, 2 GB or 4 GB) ask before loading, and Open anyway still reads the whole file.
Embed on Your Website
Add this viewer to your own site with a single line of HTML. Click Embed in the toolbar to generate an embed code, or use the snippet below with your own file URL.
Your Files Stay on Your Computer
Your PCD files are parsed entirely in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, stored, or shared unless you explicitly click the Share button. Shared files are hosted for 90 days then deleted.
Frequently Asked Questions
▶How big a PCD file can I open?
Files of hundreds of megabytes and more open. The viewer reads the file in pieces and keeps an evenly spread sample, up to 5 million points on a desktop, so memory use stays at the size of the sample. Past a size ceiling (512 MB to 4 GB depending on the device) the viewer asks first, and Open anyway reads the whole file.
▶Does it open binary_compressed PCD files?
Yes. The LZF-compressed block is unpacked in pieces as it is read, so a compressed cloud opens the same way as an uncompressed one, without being held in memory whole.
▶Why is my cloud gray?
The file has no rgb field, or every colour in it is black. When it has an intensity field the points are shaded by intensity on a gray ramp; otherwise they are drawn in one colour. Save the cloud with its colour field to see it in colour.
▶Why does the status line say the file ends early?
The header declares more points than the file holds, which happens when a download, copy or save is interrupted. The points that arrived are shown; the rest of the cloud is missing. Download or copy the file again and open the whole file.
▶My cloud is lying on its side. Why?
The viewer takes Z as up, as LiDAR maps and survey data do. A cloud saved in a camera’s own frame (Y down, Z forward) comes in turned; use Edit to rotate it upright.
▶Is this PCD viewer really free?
Yes, completely free. No signup, no watermarks, no file size limits on the viewer (the optional share-link feature has a 100 MB upload cap). Built by Innerscene as a tool for architects, engineers, and designers.
▶Are my files uploaded to a server?
No. All parsing, rendering, and conversion runs in your browser: nothing is uploaded, stored, or transmitted by default. The Share button is the only feature that uploads a file, and only when you explicitly click it.
▶Can I convert to another format?
Yes. The Export menu writes the points on screen to PLY, LAS, PCD, XYZ, OBJ, GLB, VRML (.wrl) and Rhino 3DM, with their colours, and saves the view as a snapshot PDF, PNG or JPG. Exported points are in meters. PLY, PCD, OBJ and XYZ put them back at the file’s own coordinates (Z up); GLB, VRML and 3DM center them on the cloud. A decimated cloud exports as the sample that is drawn. Point clouds have no surfaces, so STL and the other mesh formats are left out of the menu.
▶Can I embed this viewer on my own site?
Yes. Click Embed in the toolbar to generate a one-line <iframe> snippet you can paste into any HTML page. You can choose whether the embed shows the viewer’s toolbar.