SVG to DXF Converter (and DXF to SVG)

About the SVG to DXF Converter (and DXF to SVG)

Convert an SVG into a DXF for laser cutters, CNC routers, plotters, CAD programs and Silhouette Studio Basic Edition, or turn a DXF back into an SVG for Cricut Design Space, Inkscape or a web page. Paths, rectangles, circles, polygons, transforms, nested groups and repeated <use> shapes are converted; curves become polylines within the precision you choose or exact splines, and round holes stay true circles.

The drawing keeps its true size: an SVG’s width and height in mm, cm, inches or points, or 96 user units per inch when it states none (as browsers draw it), and a DXF’s own unit. Layers follow the SVG’s colours or its top-level groups (Inkscape and Illustrator layers), so cut, score and engrave lines arrive on separate layers. Everything runs in your browser; the file never leaves your device. Without a pass you see the converted drawing as a watermarked free preview with its size and counts; a Pro pass unlocks the file.

Common uses

• Opening shop-bought SVG cut files in Silhouette Studio Basic Edition.
• Sending logos and lettering to a laser cutter, CNC router or plotter as DXF.
• Using a CAD drawing (DXF) in Cricut Design Space, Inkscape or on a web page.
• Separating cut, score and engrave lines into DXF layers by colour.
• Cleaning up CAD exports: joining loose segments into closed outlines and removing doubled lines.

Which program reads which file

• Silhouette Studio: Basic Edition opens DXF files ready to cut; SVG and PDF need Designer Edition or higher (Silhouette: file types and features). Convert SVG to DXF here for Basic Edition.
• Cricut Design Space uploads SVG and DXF files as cut images (Cricut: uploading images). Convert a DXF to SVG here for any program or app that takes SVG only.
• LightBurn imports SVG, DXF, AI and PDF (LightBurn: importing artwork). Layers by colour (the default) keep cut, score and engrave lines apart in programs that sort work by colour or layer.
• CAD and CNC programs read DXF; R12 is the oldest and most widely read version.

Program names are used only to say which files open where.

R12 or R2000, polylines or splines

• DXF R12 writes every outline as a POLYLINE and circles as CIRCLE. It cannot store a unit, so programs either assume one or ask: choose the same unit there.
• DXF R2000 writes LWPOLYLINE, SPLINE and CIRCLE entities and records the unit in its $INSUNITS header (4 = millimetres, 1 = inches), following the Autodesk DXF Reference. It includes the header, tables, blocks and objects sections that R2000 readers expect.
• Polylines approximate curves with short straight segments: Fine stays within 0.01 mm of the curve, Normal 0.05 mm, Draft 0.2 mm. Finer means more nodes and longer files.
• Splines (R2000 only) keep Bézier curves exactly: each curved outline becomes one cubic B-spline whose control points are the curve’s own (SPLINE group codes). Not every cutter program reads splines: if yours shows nothing or jagged curves, use polylines.

Size and units

• An SVG with a width and height in mm, cm, in, pt or pc keeps that size; one in px or without units is read at 96 px per inch, as browsers draw it (CSS: 1 in = 96 px). If a file drawn at 72 per inch (some older Illustrator exports) comes out 25 % too small, enter the width you want instead.
• Width scales the drawing so its outlines are exactly that wide (and puts its corner at 0, 0); leave it empty for the true size.
• A DXF’s unit comes from its $INSUNITS header. A DXF without one (R12 files, many exports) is taken as millimetres: choose the drawing unit if the size looks wrong.
• The SVG from a DXF states its size in mm or in, with one SVG unit per drawing unit, so measurements in CAD and in the SVG agree.

Clean cuts: joining, closing and duplicates

• Join touching pieces links paths that meet end to end (within 0.05 mm) into one outline, as CAD exports often draw every segment on its own. A chain that comes back to its start becomes closed.
• Close paths whose ends meet closes outlines whose ends are within 0.05 mm, so cutters and lasers treat them as shapes. Close every open path closes all of them (use it only when every line should be a closed cut).
• Remove duplicates drops paths drawn twice (also when the copy runs the other way), which would make a laser cut the same line twice.
• Hidden shapes (display: none, zero opacity, no fill and no stroke) are always left out.

Limitations

• SVG text is not converted: turn it into paths first, or set the words as outlines with Text to SVG. Embedded pictures are skipped (trace them with Image to SVG), and clip paths and masks are not applied.
• Fills, gradients and stroke widths do not carry into a DXF: it holds the outlines’ geometry only. Strokes become single lines along their centre.
• From DXF: lines, polylines with arcs, circles, arcs, ellipses, splines, solids, 3D faces seen from above and blocks (also nested and in arrays) are converted. Text, hatches, pictures, dimensions’ text and 3D meshes are left out and counted.
• Files up to 30 MB and 200,000 lines or curves; larger drawings should be split.
• Without a pass the free preview shows the converted drawing at up to 640 pixels with a watermark, with its size and counts, and the file stays locked.

Privacy

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