Image to SVG for laser cutting.

Closed paths for LightBurn, Glowforge and xTool. Converting uploads nothing.

Drop a PNG, JPG or WebP

or paste from the clipboard

Best from 500 px wide, sharp edges, plain background

Or try:

Image to SVG for laser cutting and engraving

Laser software wants geometry, not pixels. Feed LightBurn a PNG and it will engrave it as a raster image, dot by dot, which is slow and gives a dithered grey result. Feed it paths and it can cut the outline, or fill the shape cleanly, and it can do so at any size.

GetSVG turns a raster image into those paths in your browser. Converting uploads nothing, there is no account and there is no watermark, which is worth something when you are iterating on a design at eleven at night.

What your software will accept

LightBurn imports SVG directly through File, then Import.
Glowforge accepts SVG upload.
xTool Creative Space accepts SVG.
LaserGRBL accepts SVG for vector work.
If you need DXF, open the SVG in Inkscape, which is free, and use Save As with the DXF format. Nothing about the geometry changes in that step. GetSVG itself exports SVG and PNG only, and I would rather say that plainly than pretend otherwise.

Cut or engrave: what the output actually is

GetSVG produces closed, filled shapes rather than open strokes. Every path is a complete outline of a region of colour. That gives you both options in your laser software:

Fill or Scan mode engraves the interior of each shape. This is what you want for a solid logo burned into wood or slate.
Line mode follows the same outline as a cut. Use it for stencils, inlays and anything that needs to come free of the sheet.

Because the shapes are closed, fill operations behave predictably. Open paths are the usual cause of a fill that leaks across the whole workpiece, and that failure mode does not arise here.

Keeping fine lines alive

Thin strokes are where most vectorizers fail, and where engraving is least forgiving. Use the Hairlinepreset, which is preselected on this page. It traces at three times the working size and biases the threshold so faint, anti-aliased strokes still register as ink rather than being rounded away.

Before downloading, switch on Paths and look along the thinnest strokes. If a line has broken into separate fragments you will see it immediately as a gap in the outline. Raise Stroke thickness a few steps to close it. If the whole design is finer than the beam width you are working with, scale it up instead.

Shape count and job time

Every separate shape adds a travel move between operations, so a file with hundreds of stray specks takes far longer to run than one with a clean outline. The stats pill at the bottom of the canvas shows the shape count live. For a simple design, tens of shapes is healthy and hundreds means the tracer is following noise.

The fixes, in order of effect: move Detail towards Simpler, raise Remove specks, and in Full colour mode reduce the number of colours. Each of those cuts shape count without touching the outline you care about.

A note on kerf

The beam removes material as it travels, so a cut piece finishes very slightly smaller than the path. Laser software handles this with a kerf offset setting. GetSVG traces the edge as it appears in your image, so apply kerf compensation in LightBurn or your own software rather than expecting the trace to account for it.

Related: PNG to SVG, JPG to SVG for scans and photographs of artwork, and how the tracer works.

How image to SVG for laser cutting works in GetSVG

Drop, paste or choose a picture. PNG, JPG or WebP. The file is read by your browser and is not uploaded.
GetSVG picks a preset. It looks at the pixels — how many colours, how soft the edges are, how much plain background — and chooses Clean logo, Hairline, Brush, Sketch, Illustration or Artwork. Every other setting follows from that.
The tracer runs. For each colour a mask is built and Potrace fits smooth Bézier curves to its outline, in a Web Worker so the page stays responsive. Re-tracing after a settings change keeps the previous result on screen until the new one is ready.
Check it is real geometry. Turn on Paths to see outlines and anchor points, or drag the Split handle to compare original and vector.
Download. SVG grouped per colour, PNG at 1×/2×/4×, or copy the SVG code.

What you get

Editable paths, not an embedded bitmap. The SVG contains only <path> elements with cubic Bézier curves.
One group per colour. Each colour is a <g fill="#…">, so one click selects a whole colour in Illustrator, Figma or Inkscape.
A tight view box. Empty space around the artwork is trimmed automatically, with a small safety margin.
Transparent background on request. The dominant border colour is detected and removed.
Real gradients when you want them. In Full colour mode, Smooth fits a linear gradient across a faded region and writes a genuine <linearGradient>.

Questions

Will my laser software accept the SVG?

LightBurn, Glowforge, xTool Creative Space and LaserGRBL all import SVG directly. Drop the downloaded file in and the paths arrive as cut or engrave geometry.

I need DXF, not SVG. What now?

GetSVG exports SVG and PNG only. To get DXF, open the SVG in Inkscape, which is free, and use Save As with the DXF format. The geometry is unchanged by that step.

Should I use cut or engrave for a traced file?

GetSVG produces filled shapes, not open strokes, so each path is a closed outline. Laser software usually reads that as a fill operation, which suits engraving. For cutting, set the layer to line mode and the machine follows the same outline.

My fine lines vanished after tracing. How do I keep them?

Use the Hairline preset. It traces at three times the working size and biases the threshold so faint strokes still count as ink. If lines are still breaking, raise Stroke thickness a few steps.

Does the number of paths affect cutting time?

Yes. Every separate shape adds a travel move. If the stats pill shows hundreds of shapes for a simple design, move Detail towards Simpler or raise Remove specks before you download.