Which Point Cloud Format Do I Need?

E57 is widely considered the most universal point cloud file format. It is an open, vendor-neutral standard (ASTM E2807) supported by virtually every major 3D scanning and CAD/BIM software package — including Autodesk ReCap, Revit, Leica Cyclone, FARO SCENE, Trimble RealWorks, and CloudCompare. When in doubt, E57 is the safest choice.

E57 is designed primarily for terrestrial laser scanning and stores structured scan data with metadata, images, and intensity. LAS (and its compressed variant LAZ) is optimized for aerial LiDAR and geospatial workflows — it supports point classification (ground, vegetation, building) and GPS coordinates natively. Choose E57 for indoor/BIM work and LAS for surveying, GIS, and drone LiDAR projects.

Autodesk Revit imports point clouds in RCS (single scan) and RCP (project container) formats, both created by Autodesk ReCap. THE FUTURE 3D delivers RCP/RCS files alongside E57 source data for clients working in the Autodesk ecosystem. ReCap can import E57, LAS, and PTS files and convert them to RCP/RCS.

Yes. Most professional software can convert between formats. CloudCompare (free, open-source) handles E57, LAS, PLY, PTS, XYZ, and OBJ conversions. Autodesk ReCap converts E57/LAS/PTS to RCP/RCS. However, some conversions may lose metadata — for example, converting LAS classification data to XYZ will strip classification labels. Always keep the original source files.

THE FUTURE 3D delivers point cloud data in E57 (universal standard), RCP/RCS (Autodesk ecosystem), LAS/LAZ (geospatial/surveying), and OBJ (visualization/3D printing) formats. We tailor deliverables to your software workflow. If you need a specific format not listed, contact us — we can accommodate virtually any industry-standard format.

LAZ (compressed LAS) offers the best compression ratio, typically reducing file sizes by 70-90% compared to uncompressed formats. PLY in binary mode is also compact. XYZ/ASCII formats tend to be the largest because they store coordinates as human-readable text. For large-scale projects where storage or bandwidth matters, request LAZ or compressed E57 from your scanning provider.