Free online FCSTD to TIFF converter

What the FCSTD format is

FCStd is FreeCAD's native document format. It stores parametric parts, bodies, assemblies, sketches, constraints, features, materials, views, and other document data created in FreeCAD. You encounter it in mechanical design, product development, engineering workflows, and repositories of FreeCAD models.

An FCStd file is not an image. It can contain several objects and views, so converting it to TIFF requires choosing a camera angle, display mode, background, and output resolution.

What the TIFF format is

TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) stores raster images, commonly for printing, scanning, technical documentation, and long-term image archives. It supports high color depth, lossless compression such as LZW or Deflate, and large image dimensions.

TIFF is suitable when the recipient needs a static rendering rather than editable CAD geometry. It preserves pixels, not FreeCAD features, sketches, constraints, object hierarchy, or parametric history.

How to actually convert FCSTD to TIFF

Using FreeCAD and ImageMagick

1. Open the .FCStd file in FreeCAD.
2. Choose the required camera orientation with View → Standard views, or use the navigation cube.
3. Fit the complete model with View → Standard views → Fit all. Hide construction geometry, axes, and objects that should not appear in the image.
4. Open FreeCAD's Python console through View → Panels → Python console and run a screenshot command such as Gui.activeDocument().activeView().viewAxonometric(); Gui.activeDocument().activeView().fitAll(); Gui.activeDocument().activeView().saveImage("model.png", 3000, 2000, "White", "Current").
5. Convert the rendered PNG to TIFF with ImageMagick: magick model.png -compress lzw model.tif. Use an absolute path in both filenames if FreeCAD or the shell cannot find the files.

The width and height in saveImage determine the output resolution. Replace White with Current to retain the current background, or use Transparent when the installed FreeCAD version supports transparent viewport capture.

For a technical drawing

If the FCStd document contains a TechDraw page, activate the page and export the drawing through TechDraw → Page → Export Page as PDF or an available SVG export command. Rasterize the exported file with ImageMagick, for example magick drawing.pdf -density 300 -background white -alpha remove -compress lzw drawing.tif. This generally produces cleaner dimension lines and text than a perspective viewport screenshot.

Using the built-in online converter

You can convert the file on 101convert.com for free without installing software. Upload the FCStd file, select TIFF as the output, start the conversion, and download the resulting image. The result is still a rasterized view; it does not preserve editable FreeCAD data.

Quality, compatibility, and limitations

The conversion captures only the currently rendered view. It does not automatically include every body, hidden object, alternate camera, animation state, or model metadata. Check visibility and orientation in FreeCAD before exporting.

For printed output, render at the required final dimensions, typically at least 300 dpi; increasing TIFF compression quality cannot recover detail missing from a low-resolution screenshot. LZW or Deflate compression is lossless and avoids the artifacts produced by JPEG compression.

TIFF has no standard way to represent FreeCAD's editable geometry. Keep the original FCStd alongside the TIFF when later editing, measuring, or regenerating a different view may be necessary.