Jernej LeticaPhotography Tools & Stories
Convert & Compress

Image to SVG Converter for PNG and JPG

Turn a logo, icon or line drawing into a vector SVG on your own device. A photo comes out poster-like, so this tool is really for flat colours.

Built and written by Jernej Letica

Local browser processing · No upload · No account required

How to convert an image to SVG

  1. Drop a PNG, JPG, WebP, HEIC or AVIF on the box above. The first trace starts by itself.
  2. Pick Colour for a logo with its colours, or Black and white for a single-colour cut or stamp.
  3. Move the sliders and watch the preview, the path count and the file size change. Use the Source button to compare.
  4. Press Download SVG, or Copy SVG code to paste the code into a web page.

What it did with my three test files

I tested this tool on a logo, a line drawing and a photo, and the three results explain what it is for.

The test logo is a red ring and a mountain on white, 800 × 500 pixels. It came out as 3 paths with 89 nodes in a 1.2 KB file, and 99.5 % of its pixels match the original when the SVG is drawn back at the same size. The 1000 × 700 line drawing gave 29 paths, 827 nodes and 10.8 KB. Both are files you can scale to the side of a van.

My 1200 × 800 photo of the red bicycle in Metelkova gave 20,982 paths, 189,128 nodes and 3.66 MB at 8 colours, from a JPEG of 702 KB. It looks like a screen-printed poster, which can be nice, but it is no longer the photo. With 4 colours it dropped to 9,260 paths, 113,386 nodes and 1.98 MB. For a photo that must stay a photo, keep the JPEG.

What this converter is good at

PNG and JPG files store a grid of pixels. An SVG stores shapes, so it stays sharp at any size. This tool finds the areas of flat colour in your image and draws a curve around each one. That works very well on logos, icons, line art, signatures and anything else with clean edges and few colours.

A photo has no flat areas, so each colour breaks into thousands of small islands. You get a poster-like image and a large file. The page warns you when a file passes 1 MB or 5,000 paths, because design software slows down on files like that.

Images over 4 megapixels are scaled down before tracing, and the line under the preview states the size used. A 12 MP photo of 4,242 × 2,828 pixels is traced at 2,449 × 1,633. The SVG keeps the original width and height, so it opens at the same size.

Turning a logo into an SVG

Start from the largest, cleanest copy of the logo you have. Set the number of colours to the number you can see in it. The default of 8 is safe too: the tool ignores the soft edge pixels around letters, so my two-colour logo still came out in 2 colours at that setting instead of gaining grey rings.

Transparent background is on from the start. The colour that holds most of the image edge is left out of the file, and the line under the preview names it. If your logo should keep its white box, switch the option off. When no colour holds most of the edge, as in most photos, nothing is removed. A PNG that already has transparency stays transparent.

Making an SVG for Cricut

A cutting machine follows outlines, so fewer and simpler shapes cut better. Use Black and white, keep Transparent background on, and raise Remove specks until the small dots are gone, because each dot is one more tiny cut. Every shape then has one fill colour and no background, which is what a single-layer vinyl cut needs.

For a design in several vinyl colours, use Colour mode with the number of vinyls. The file contains plain paths with no embedded image, no scripts and no links to other files, the form that Cricut Design Space and similar importers expect. I checked that structure in the file itself, but I have not cut one on a Cricut.

Black and white with a threshold

Black and white mode lays the image on white paper and splits it at one brightness. Everything darker than the Threshold number becomes black, everything else disappears. Raise it to catch pale pencil lines; lower it when shadows and paper texture turn into black blobs.

It suits stamps, stencils, signatures and scanned ink. My line drawing gave 29 paths, 886 nodes and 11.5 KB this way, close to the Colour result. A white logo on a dark background traces the dark part, so invert such a file first.

Tips for better results

  • Trace the largest copy you have. A 300 pixel logo has too few pixels for clean curves.
  • Use the smallest number of colours that still looks right. Each extra colour adds paths.
  • If edges look wobbly, raise Smoothing. If corners go soft, lower it.
  • Scanned drawings trace better after you raise the contrast, because grey paper turns into specks.
  • Check the Source view before you download, so nothing small has gone missing.

Privacy

Your image never leaves your device. The tracing runs in your browser, with no upload and no account. Closing the page clears the image and the result.

Frequently asked questions

Can I convert PNG to SVG free with no sign-up?

Yes. There is no account and nothing to pay, and the conversion runs on your own device. Choose the PNG, wait a moment for the trace and press Download SVG.

Can I convert JPG to SVG with colour?

Yes. Colour mode keeps 2 to 16 colours, and 8 is the default. JPEG noise does not count as a colour, so a clean JPG logo stays clean, though a PNG of the same logo has crisper edges to trace.

How do I convert an image to SVG for Cricut?

Use Black and white with Transparent background on, raise Remove specks, then download the file and upload it to Design Space. It holds only plain paths. I checked the file structure, not a real cut on a machine.

Will a photo look good as an SVG?

It will look like a poster, with flat patches of colour. My 1200 × 800 photo became 3.66 MB and 20,982 paths at 8 colours. A vector file is the wrong format for a photo that must look real.

Is this a real vector or a PNG inside an SVG?

A real vector. Some converters wrap the picture in an SVG file and change nothing else. Here the file holds only path shapes, so you can edit each one in Inkscape or Illustrator and scale it without blur.

Why was my image scaled down?

Images over 4 megapixels are reduced for tracing, because more pixels add time and not useful detail to flat artwork. The size used is shown under the preview, and the SVG still opens at the original dimensions.

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