Extract text from 3D Movie Maker projects (3MM)
To convert 3MM projects to another format, you need Microsoft 3D Movie Maker or other 3D software.
To convert other file formats to the "3D Animation Project" file type, you need software like Microsoft 3D Movie Maker or a similar tool.
A .3mm file is a proprietary project file used by Microsoft 3D Movie Maker, a legacy children's animation program released in 1995. These files do not contain standard video data. Instead, they store a sequence of instructions, 3D character placements, camera angles, sound clips, and text. Users primarily use this format to save their progress while creating animated movies.
To open a .3mm file natively, you must use the original Microsoft software. Because the software is decades old, modern operating systems cannot run it without virtualization, emulation, or community-developed ports like v3dmm. This makes accessing your old projects highly inconvenient without technical knowledge.
Users typically want to convert .3mm files to modern video formats like MP4, AVI, or MOV to share their animations on platforms like YouTube or play them in standard media players like VLC. The severe disadvantage of the .3mm format is its proprietary, outdated nature. It relies on the defunct BRender 3D engine. Since it is a project file and not a rendered video stream, standard video converters will completely fail to process it.
The best target formats for the final output are MP4 (for web sharing) or AVI (for lossless archival). However, because standard conversion tools cannot interpret the 1995 BRender instructions, true conversion is impossible without the original rendering engine. The standard workaround is to play the file in the original software and capture the output using screen recording software like OBS Studio.
This file format is exceptionally difficult to open or convert because only the original engine can properly read and execute the animation data. Just drag and drop your file into convert.guru to identify the format, view its internal structure, and convert it when possible. While direct video conversion is impossible here, our tool can inspect the file, extract embedded raw text or sound metadata, and help you confirm the file is not corrupted.
Use Convert.Guru to open and convert your 3MM file.
Users also converted 3TH, 3CN and WLMP files.
If you want to convert 3MM file to [% faq_exts_to %], you can use Microsoft 3D Movie Maker or similar software from the "3D Animation Project Storage" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert [% faq_exts_from %] files to 3MM, try Microsoft 3D Movie Maker or another comparable tool in the "3D Animation Project Storage" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our 3MM converter.