Convert PNG to SVG

Convert PNG to SVG to trace the outlines of a picture into curves. The result scales without going soft, but the palette collapses to four colours along the way, which makes this a job for logos and marks rather than photographs.

What happens when you convert PNG to SVG

A PNG is made of pixels and cannot be enlarged without loss: on a banner or a shop sign the edges break into stair steps. SVG stores shapes rather than dots, which is why it looks equally sharp on a business card and on a billboard.

There is no direct route between the two, so the image is traced: it is split into colour layers and the boundary of each layer is drawn as curves. The simpler the source, the closer the result stays to the original.

• The palette collapses to four colours, so gradients turn into flat fills.
• Specks smaller than two pixels are discarded as noise.
• Outlines become curves you can edit in a vector editor.
• The half-tones and shadows of a photograph break into blotches and lose their subject.
• A transparent background in the source stays transparent.

How to convert PNG to SVG

1. Upload your PNG file on this page.
2. Pick SVG as the output format.
3. Click “Convert”.
4. Download the vector file.

What is worth tracing

• Rebuild a logo when all that survives is a raster file pulled off a website.
• Prepare a mark for printing on a banner, a shirt or a sign.
• Get an icon that looks the same on any screen.
• Redraw a simple diagram or pictogram so it can be edited as curves.

What the source should look like

1. Count the colours: anything beyond four merges into its nearest neighbour.
2. Check the edges — a crisp outline traces accurately, a blurred one spreads.
3. Start from a larger file, since a small picture gives coarser outlines.
4. Remove backgrounds and drop shadows first, or they become shapes of their own.

Limits

• File size: up to 50 MB as a guest, up to 100 MB with a free account.
• The number of colours in the result is fixed and cannot be set by hand.
• Photographs and screenshots are not suitable material for tracing.

How to finish the job

• Open the result in a vector editor. Stray nodes and broken outlines are quicker to clean by hand than to avoid by picking another source.
• Compare it with the original at small size. Tracing errors show up first on thin strokes and the serifs of type.
• Leave photographs as raster. To print a shot, the PNG to PDF converter keeps the quality intact.

Other directions for PNG

• The picture has to be sent as a document: use the PNG to PDF converter.
• The file is too heavy: the PNG to JPG converter cuts its weight.
• The image belongs inside a report: the PNG to DOCX converter places it there.

FAQ

Why does the result have so few colours?

Tracing works through colour layers, and their number is capped at four. Shades outside that palette merge with the closest one.

Can a photograph be vectorised?

Technically yes, but the result is a set of coloured blotches. Vector is the wrong home for photos.

Is transparency preserved?

Yes, transparent areas of the source stay transparent in the SVG.

Where did the fine detail go?

Specks under two pixels are dropped as noise. Upload a larger image to keep that kind of detail.