What Is a VRM File?

If you've downloaded a model from VRoid Hub or exported one from VRoid Studio, you've got a .vrm file. It's the closest thing 3D VTubing has to a standard, and knowing what's in it saves a lot of "why won't my model blink" moments.

What does VRM stand for, and who makes it?

VRM is a 3D humanoid avatar format, originally from Japan. It's maintained by the VRM Consortium, an association set up on April 24, 2019, and its own site describes it as based on glTF 2.0 and free for anyone to use. glTF is a common 3D file format; VRM adds the avatar-specific parts on top.

What's inside a VRM file?

We opened the free sample model, Seed-san, in our VTuber Model Viewer. Here's what one real VRM file holds:

Why do VRM expressions matter for VTubing?

Face tracking turns your face into numbers: how closed your eyes are, how open your mouth is. VRM gives every model the same named expressions, so any app knows what to move. Seed-san has all the standard ones:

• Blinks: blink, blinkLeft, blinkRight
• Mouth shapes: aa, ih, ou, ee, oh (the vowels your mouth makes while talking)
• Emotions: happy, angry, sad, relaxed, surprised
• Gaze: lookUp, lookDown, lookLeft, lookRight

If a model is missing the blinks or mouth shapes, it'll stare and never talk, however good your webcam is. Our viewer's rig check flags that before you go live; for Seed-san it said "Ready for webcam VTubing".

What does the licence in a VRM file mean?

This is the part people skip. Every VRM carries the creator's own usage terms: who may use it as an avatar, whether commercial use is allowed, whether you must give credit, and whether violent or sexual content is allowed. Seed-san's say anyone may use it, personal and corporate use are both fine, and credit is required.

How do you open a VRM file?

1. 1

   To look at it

   Drop it into the VTuber Model Viewer. It runs in your browser and the file isn't uploaded.

2. 2

   To use it as an avatar

   Load it in a VTuber app: VSeeFace, Warudo or VNyan on Windows, or our VTuber Maker in a browser with Upload .vrm.

3. 3

   To edit it

   Models made in VRoid Studio can be reopened there. Other VRMs need a 3D tool: Blender with a VRM add-on, or Unity with the free UniVRM package, which is how many custom models are exported.

VRM 0.x or 1.0: which one do you need?

VRM 1.0 is the newer version; plenty of apps and models still use 0.x. They aren't interchangeable everywhere, and this is the most common reason a model loads in one app but not another. Seed-san is a 1.0 file. Here's what the apps we checked say:

If your app only reads 0.x, export again from VRoid Studio and pick VRM 0.0 in the export window; VSeeFace's own instructions say the same. Our Model Viewer lists the version in its model stats, so you can check a file before you try it in an app.

What are the limits of this check?

We looked at one model, the free sample. Paid and hand-made models vary a lot: some have far more triangles and textures, extra expressions, or no spring bones at all. The licence fields are what the creator wrote into the file; they aren't legal advice, and a model's store page can add its own terms.