STL vs 3MF side by side print quality comparison

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I totally get the reasons why 3MF are better for mean reasons compared to STL files type but is there a print quality aka visual difference when the same item is printed out same settings but just a different file type STL vs 3MF?

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that’s a really good question I personally cannot add any info but I like your thought process

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I don’t know the answer to that but I have had problems with 3MF files sent to Cura from fusion360 that don’t happen with plain old STL’s

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That’s interesting @Glenn - I switched to using 3mf for FDM prints and haven’t noticed any problems yet.
I also can’t say that I have seen any improvement with using them though either really.

One thing that is a bit annoying with 3mf is that they keep the coordinate positioning of your cad software so when I design something at the origin in Fusion and drop the 3mf into Cura it gets positioned hanging off the front corner of the bed at whatever Z height the model was so I always need to move parts into place. It’s not a problem, just an extra step and means you always need to be sure that your model is at Z=0 in Cura.

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yes about the origins I see that too, I’ve been printing some print-in-place things when I export them to Cura for slicing it defaults to .3mf, those assemblies sometimes can’t be moved together as a part, and can never be rotated without losing their positions, it’s likely related to the origin issue if each part has it’s own. If I export at STL then no issue.

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I have seen odd issues with 3mf in prusa slicer, layers the were empty part way through the print. I export obj files mostly these days. A friend who runs a big flow thought there was a chance 3mf might become preparatory. I don’t know if that is true but i started to lean towards objs at that point.

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I’ve noticed that if I save an F360 project as a 3MF, PrusaSlicer detects errors in the mesh that need to be fixed. If I save the same project as an STL, PrusaSlicer is happy. I suspect this has more to do with PusaSlicer using .3MF to save it’s own projects than anything else, but I don’t actually know; in any case, it’s clear that things work better for me if I just save as STL, so that’s what I do.