How do I convert an image to DXF for laser cutting?

Why a picture needs tracing first

A laser cutter, CNC router or vinyl plotter follows lines: the outline of each shape. A PNG or JPG has no lines, only coloured pixels, so it must first be traced: the tracer finds the edges of each colour and draws them as vector shapes (an SVG). The SVG is then written as DXF, the drawing format almost every cutting and CAD program reads.

If your design is already a vector (SVG, PDF from a design program, AI, EPS), skip the tracing and convert it to DXF directly.

From a picture to a DXF, step by step

1. Drop the picture at the top of this page. Open Options and choose the Black and white preset for a one-colour cut design, or Poster for a few colours.
2. Click Convert and download the SVG. Open it and zoom in: every edge should be a clean line. If there are small specks, raise Ignore specks smaller than and convert again.
3. Drop the SVG on SVG to DXF and download the DXF.
4. Import the DXF into your laser or CNC software, check the size, and set the cut and engrave layers there.

What size does the DXF come out?

A DXF made from a picture uses 96 pixels per inch: a picture 800 pixels wide becomes a drawing 211.7 mm (8.33 in) wide. Scale it to the size you want in your laser software, which keeps the proportions.

An SVG that was drawn in millimetres or inches (most design programs do this) keeps its real size: in our test, a 100 × 50 mm drawing came out at exactly 100 × 50 mm.

Tip: Measure one known distance in the imported drawing (the width of a letter, the diameter of a hole) before you cut, and scale if needed.

Tips for clean cuts

• Use high contrast: a black design on white traces into clean outlines. Shading, gradients and photos turn into many small shapes that are slow or impossible to cut.
• Start big: trace the largest copy of the picture you have; small or blurry pictures give rough edges.
• Remove specks: raise “Ignore specks smaller than” so dust and noise don’t become hundreds of tiny cuts.
• Check closed shapes: for cutting out, every outline must be closed; your laser software can show open paths.
• Mind the inside parts: letters like A, O and R have islands that fall out when cut; add bridges (stencil style) if they must stay.

We tested it: a logo from PNG to DXF

We traced a logo saved as an 800 × 800 PNG in the browser (15 vector shapes, in under a second), then converted the SVG to DXF on our server: 85 outlines and 539 smooth curves, in about half a second, at 211.7 mm wide. A test drawing of a rectangle with a round hole, 100 × 50 mm, came out at exactly that size.

The test also found a fault, now fixed: the DXF writer we used before kept only some kinds of shapes, so a rectangle or circle drawn as such could go missing, and curves became thousands of short lines. Every shape now comes through, as outlines and smooth curves.

Tip: Tested on 8 November 2026 with Inkscape 1.2.2 on our server, writing DXF R14.

DXF or SVG for your machine?

Most laser, CNC and plotter software reads DXF, and many hobby laser programs read SVG as well. If yours takes SVG, you can use the traced SVG directly and skip the second step. CAD programs and CNC routers usually want DXF. Check your machine’s software for the formats it imports.

How it works

Tracing runs in your browser with vtracer, the open-source tracer from visioncortex: pictures up to 200 MB are never uploaded. SVG, PDF, AI and EPS to DXF run on our server (Inkscape and pstoedit), and the files are deleted after 72 hours.