---
id: usd-exchange
version: "2.3.0"
license: Apache-2.0
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# usd-exchange — OpenUSD Exchange provides higher-level convenience functions as a companion to lower-level OpenUSD concepts

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 75.1K/mo

## What it is and what it does

usd-exchange is NVIDIA's companion SDK to OpenUSD that simplifies adoption by offering higher-level convenience functions for building USD I/O pipelines. It abstracts away lower-level OpenUSD concepts, allowing developers to quickly map data from diverse 3D ecosystems and native formats into consistent, correct USD assets without deep USD expertise.

The package is designed as a developer toolkit for designing and testing custom USD import/export solutions. It provides best-practice patterns and utilities that accelerate the process of connecting external data sources to the OpenUSD standard, making it useful for teams building 3D interchange tools, asset pipelines, or format converters.

Use it for:

- Building custom USD importers for proprietary 3D file formats or data sources.
- Creating USD exporters that ensure consistent asset representation across different 3D tools.
- Testing USD I/O pipelines to verify data integrity and correctness during format conversion.
- Accelerating adoption of OpenUSD in organizations with existing 3D asset workflows.
- Developing 3D ecosystem interoperability layers that map between native formats and USD.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Provides higher-level convenience functions and tools for designing, building, and testing USD I/O solutions that map native data sources to OpenUSD-legible data models.

Yes, if you are building USD I/O solutions or integrating OpenUSD into a 3D pipeline. The package is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, uses a permissive license, and offers genuine convenience for USD adoption. Medium install friction is acceptable for a specialized 3D development tool. Not recommended for general-purpose Python work.

## Install

pip install usd-exchange
uv add usd-exchange
poetry add usd-exchange

## Installing usd-exchange

Before you install: Medium install friction due to platform-specific wheels (aarch64, x86_64, Windows); actively maintained with recent commits and no known vulnerabilities.

License in practice: Apache-2.0 permissive license allows commercial and private use with minimal restrictions.

Quickstart:

pip install usd-exchange==2.3.0
import usd_exchange
# Use convenience functions to map native data to USD format

Requires Python 3.10–3.12; no runtime dependencies but depends on OpenUSD ecosystem being available.

Verify before relying:

- Whether the package requires system-level OpenUSD libraries or if it bundles them.
- Specific convenience functions and APIs available in version 2.3.0.
- Performance characteristics when handling large or complex 3D asset conversions.

## Package facts

- License: Apache-2.0 (permissive)
- Python support: capped_below_current
- Install friction: medium
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 75.1K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

USD I/O SDK, OpenUSD data mapping, 3D asset exchange format, USD conversion tools, OpenUSD adoption framework, 3D ecosystem interoperability, USD best practices library, 3d-graphics, usd-ecosystem, data-interchange

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