Cut File Maker for Cutting Machines and Lasers

About the Cut File Maker for Cutting Machines and Lasers

Make cut-ready files for vinyl cutters, craft cutting machines and lasers from text, a picture (PNG, JPG or WebP) or an SVG file. Type a name in a script font and the letters are welded into one outline, so the blade never cuts through the joins; add one or two outline (offset) layers for a backing, a cake topper or a border; split a logo into colour layers that tuck a little under each other so layered vinyl shows no gaps; thicken delicate lines and check the thinnest part against what your material can cut.

Set the finished width or height in millimetres or inches and every file comes out at exactly that size: a layered SVG with one group per colour, DXF R12 for programs that read DXF, a transparent PNG with its resolution written in the file, EPS and PDF — one format, or all of them in one ZIP. Your machine’s own software can weld and offset too; this tool prepares the whole job in one place, checks it, and makes the set of formats people who buy cut files expect. Everything runs in your browser. Without a pass you see the result as a watermarked free preview with a close-up of its edges; a Pro pass unlocks the files.

Common uses

• Names and short quotes in script fonts for vinyl decals, tumblers, wood signs and cake toppers.
• Layered vinyl and card designs from a logo or clip art, with colour layers that line up.
• Iron-on T-shirt names and numbers, mirrored and sized.
• Turning an SVG into DXF for Silhouette Studio Basic Edition, or cleaning it up for a laser.
• Sellers preparing the SVG, DXF, PNG, EPS and PDF set for each design they list.

Which file for which program

• Cricut Design Space uploads SVG and DXF files as cut-ready vector images. SVGs are limited to 5,000 paths, DXF uploads do not work in its iOS and Android apps, and a layered SVG comes in grouped: ungroup it to move or size the layers separately (Cricut: uploading images). The SVG here has one path per layer (one per letter when welding is off), far below that limit.
• Silhouette Studio: Basic Edition opens DXF files ready to cut; opening SVG and PDF needs Designer Edition, and EPS needs Business Edition (Silhouette: file types and features). With Basic Edition, use the DXF.
• LightBurn (lasers) imports SVG, DXF and PDF, among others (LightBurn: creating and importing artwork).
• The PNG is for previews, shop listings and print-then-cut; for cutting, the vector files are exact.

Machine and program names are used only to say which files open where.

Welding, outlines, layers and mirroring

• Welding. Script letters overlap where they join. Cut as they are, the blade goes all the way round each letter and slices through the joins. Welding unites them into one outline — as Cricut’s help describes its own Weld tool, “wherever cut paths have intersected, only the exterior cut path will remain” (Cricut: Combine, Slice and Weld). Untick Weld letters to keep every letter as its own piece, for example to layer letters in different colours.
• Outlines (offsets). An outline layer is the whole design grown by a distance. Round corners follow the letters smoothly; sharp corners keep points. Solid outline fills the holes inside letters and the gaps between them, so the backing holds everything together; untick it to follow the inside too. A second outline goes around the first.
• Colour layers. Pictures are split into their main colours, compared in the CIELAB colour space so near-identical shades merge and the soft edges of a PNG do not become layers of their own. Each colour is cut where it shows; Layer overlap lets each lower layer reach under the layers above it by that much, only where they cover it, so nothing new shows when the vinyl is layered. Move layers up or down to choose which goes on top.
• Mirroring. Heat-transfer (iron-on) vinyl is cut with its carrier sheet facing the mat, so the design must be mirrored to read the right way once it is pressed (Cricut: mirroring a design). Mirror it here or in your machine’s software, not in both.

Sizes, thin parts and cutting areas

• Size. The width or height you set is the whole design, outlines included. The SVG states its size in millimetres or inches. The DXF uses the same unit, but DXF R12 files cannot store it, so choose that unit if your program asks. The PNG is made at 150, 300 or 600 DPI with the resolution written in the file.
• Thin parts. The check removes everything narrower than the thinnest line you enter (a morphological opening by half that width) and shows in pink what disappears: hairlines, thin joins and very sharp points that tear while weeding. Thicken the design, make it bigger or choose a sturdier font. The right minimum depends on your material, blade or laser — take it from their guidance.
• Cutting area. On Cricut Maker and Explore Air 2, a 12 × 12 in mat cuts up to 11.5 × 11.5 in (Cricut: mat and material size). For other machines and lasers, type the cutting area from your machine’s manual; the page says whether the design fits, fits turned a quarter turn, or how much smaller it must be.

Fonts you can use in cut files you sell

Every font here is under the SIL Open Font License 1.1. Its FAQ says OFL fonts may be used for any kind of design work, from signs and T-shirts to laser-cut objects, and that you remain the author of what you make; the licence’s conditions apply when the font files themselves are passed on (OFL FAQ). The cut files contain letter outlines only, never a font file. Fonts installed on your computer are not offered, because their licences differ and many do not allow this use.

• Script: Dancing Script (letters that join), Great Vibes (formal calligraphy; thicken it for vinyl).
• Handwriting: Caveat.
• Display: Anton (tall and heavy), Bebas Neue (capitals only).
• Sans serif: Montserrat, Poppins (with Devanagari for Hindi, Marathi and Nepali), Inter (with Greek and Cyrillic) and Noto Sans (Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, Vietnamese and Devanagari).

The font licence covers the letters only: a logo, picture or character you trace still belongs to whoever owns it.

Limitations

• Text uses the fonts listed here only (all under the SIL Open Font License); fonts installed on your computer cannot be used.
• Pictures are traced at up to 1,600 pixels on the longest side and split into at most 8 colours; photos and gradients do not make clean cut files.
• Every layer is made of filled shapes. Lines meant for pens, scoring or engraving become outlines of their width, or are left out.
• Text, embedded pictures, clip paths and masks inside an SVG are not converted: convert text to paths in your editor first, or type it in Text mode here.
• DXF is written as R12 polylines without a unit. The PNG has at most about 16.7 million pixels (8,192 on its longest side), so very large designs get a lower resolution than the one chosen; the page says which.
• The thin-part check measures against the width you enter; it cannot know what your blade, laser and material really cut.
• Without a pass the free preview shows the cut file at up to 640 pixels with a watermark, and the files stay locked.

Privacy

Everything happens in your browser. What you enter or open here is not uploaded or stored by MySmartCoPilot. The font engine (about 330 KB) and each font file your words need (about 5–70 KB) are downloaded from this site the first time text is set, the tracer (about 80 KB) the first time a picture is traced, and a HEIC decoder (about 1.4 MB) only if an iPhone photo in HEIC needs one. Your words, pictures and files are processed on your device; nothing is uploaded.