Abstract: Described are computer-based methods and apparatuses, including computer program products, for compressing three dimensional data of a scene. Data is received comprising (i) three dimensional data of a scene, and (ii) depth data associated with the three dimensional data. A triangle mesh is generated based on the three dimensional data, the triangle mesh comprising a plurality of triangles, each triangle including three vertices and three edges connecting the three vertices. For each edge in the triangle mesh, a metric is calculated for the edge based on data from the depth data associated with the edge, a length of the edge, and a curvature of the edge. A set of edges is collapsed based on a metric associated with each edge in the set of edges to generate a compressed triangle mesh.