Individual GLBs vs the combined catalog

Some environment bundles provide both glb/individual/*.glb and an optional glb/<pack>.glb. They contain related models but serve different purposes.

Individual GLBs#

Each file represents one independently placeable asset. Use individual files when you need to:

• compose a scene from selected models;
• move, rotate, hide, or stream assets independently;
• reuse one model many times; or
• avoid downloading models the scene does not need.

Current low-poly bundle individuals are commonly uncompressed and load without Draco. Check the pack README because other profiles can differ.

Combined catalog#

The optional combined catalog places many models into one joined GLB for compact inspection. Current catalogs are monolithic: they are not arranged demo worlds, and their joined assets are not independently transformable.

Combined catalogs are commonly Draco-compressed. Self-host the Draco decoder in your application; threejsassets does not provide hosted asset or decoder URLs.

Read the README's "Draco-compressed" headline as the catalog#

The compression split is the reason a README can look contradictory. Several packs open with a blanket "Draco-compressed glTF" summary line, then state further down that the combined catalog is the joined and Draco-compressed file. The headline describes the catalog; the individual GLBs beside it are uncompressed.

Verify per file rather than trusting either line. Attach a self-hosted DRACOLoader once and let the loader decide: it is invoked for the catalog and ignored for an uncompressed individual file. Ignore any CDN decoder path a README prints in its quick-start snippet.

Compare the two#

Use individual GLBs and any included prebuilds for a real scene. Choose based on the actual file sizes and contents in your release rather than a fixed compression percentage.

Loader setup#

A GLTFLoader can load both forms. Attach a self-hosted DRACOLoader when loading the combined file; the loader simply will not invoke it for an uncompressed individual file.

Other files you may find beside them#

Bundle contents vary by release, so treat each of these as conditional and check your own download:

• MANIFEST.md — some bundles ship a per-asset table with triangle counts and short notes. When it is present, use it to pick files before loading anything.
• Multiple editions — some packs ship a free starter bundle alongside the full one. The two are separate downloads with their own file lists; do not assume a component from one resolves against the other's GLBs.
• Wrapper components — in current bundles you may see a catalog wrapper suffixed *Catalog.tsx and prebuild wrappers suffixed *Prebuild.tsx, which distinguishes them from the per-asset components in the same directory.

Next steps#

• Using a pack in vanilla three.js — configure both loader paths.
• Using a pack in React Three Fiber — use included components or useGLTF directly.