What Are 3D Tiles? | The Geospatial Streaming Standard

3D Tiles is an open standard for streaming massive 3D geospatial data like buildings and point clouds to web, desktop, and mobile apps.

If you have ever loaded a photorealistic city model in a browser and watched it render smoothly block by block, you have seen 3D Tiles at work. It organizes data into a tileset—a spatial hierarchy where each tile holds a bounding volume—so clients load only what is visible, saving bandwidth and memory. Created by Cesium and now an official OGC Community Standard, it is the default way developers stream heavy 3D content. This guide explains what it is, how it works, and why it matters.

The Two Versions And Their History

3D Tiles exists in two official OGC-approved versions. Knowing which one a client supports matters for compatibility. The original 3D Tiles 1.0 was approved on December 14, 2018 (after being announced at SIGGRAPH in 2015), documented as 18-053r2. The newer 3D Tiles 1.1 arrived on December 17, 2022, documented as OGC standard 22-025r4. Both share the same fundamental idea—streaming huge geospatial datasets efficiently—but 1.1 adds improvements making it the preferred choice for new projects.

What Kind Of Data Works With 3D Tiles?

The 1.0 specification formally lists four tile formats, each optimized for specific geometry:

• Batched 3D Model (.b3dm) — for heterogeneous models like buildings, each with its own properties.
• Instanced 3D Model (.i3dm) — for many repeated objects like streetlights sharing one base model.
• Point Cloud (.pnts) — for dense LiDAR or photogrammetry scans with position and color.
• Composite (.cmpt) — a container bundling multiple tile types into one file.

Photogrammetry, buildings, BIM/CAD models, instanced features, and point clouds fit naturally. The standard is declarative and extensible, adapting to other 3D data types beyond the core four.

How 3D Tiles Streaming Works

Instead of downloading a full model, a 3D Tiles client requests only visible tiles based on camera position and view. The hierarchy lets the client start with coarse, low-detail tiles and refine them as the viewer zooms in. The standard is built for streaming and rendering, not prescribing appearance—lighting, shading, and styling are left to the implementer, so the same dataset can look different across applications.

Before streaming, data must be tiled. Cesium directs users to convert raw source formats through Cesium ion’s 3D tiling pipeline, which optimizes geometry into a streaming hierarchy. Using untiled data directly defeats the standard’s purpose. For deeper details, the official 3D Tiles 1.1 specification is the authoritative reference.

Key Facts At A Glance

For architects and interior designers: 3D Tiles is a data delivery format, distinct from physical wall coverings. If you’re shopping for textured panels, see our roundup of the best 3D wall tiles for home decor.

Vendor Neutrality And Compatibility

3D Tiles is an open standard, not tied to any vendor product, working across desktop, web, and mobile without region restrictions or paid plans. Compatibility depends on the client: a viewer built for 1.0 may not handle 1.1 tiles, as they are distinct OGC standards. Developers should check the target version’s schema and conformance materials.

A common mistake is treating 3D Tiles as a single file—it is a tileset of many tile types in a hierarchy. Confusing the four legacy 1.0 formats with later extensions also trips people up. Another misconception is expecting identical appearance across clients; because rendering is implementation-defined, the same tileset can look different in CesiumJS, Unreal Engine, or a custom viewer—a feature giving developers full visual control.