A straightforward theory is presented to accurately model the light inferences in a low-finesse multimode fiber extrinsic Fabry-Perot (FP) interferometer. The effect on the fringe visibility of the gap length, sensor structure imperfections, and modal power distributions is explored. The analysis is particularly useful in the design and optimization of sensors that use an extrinsic FP cavity as the sensing element. (C) 2004 Optical Society of America.