It is important to understand how magnetotelluric (MT) modeling can most effectively be performed in general anisotropic media. However, previous studies in this area have mainly focused on the use of one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) algorithms. Thus, building on earlier work, it is important to study the performance of three-dimensional (3D) modeling in arbitrary conductivity media; therefore, an edge-based finite element (FE) method has been developed for 3D MT modeling in arbitrary conductivity media. This approach is based on the initial derivation of a series of equivalent variational equations that are based on Maxwell equations, generated using the weighted residual method. Specific values were then obtained for coefficient matrixes of this edge -based FE method using hexahedral meshes, and the algorithm was verified by comparing its results with finite difference (FD) solutions generated using a 2D anisotropic model. Finally, the results of a 3D anisotropic model were analyzed detailed for three conditions; another 3D anisotropic model was designed and its results were compared with two isotropic models'. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.