Convert PNG or JPG to SVG — Free Vectorizer, In Your Browser

What raster-to-vector tracing actually does

A PNG or JPG is a grid of pixels. An SVG is a set of mathematical shapes — paths, curves and fills — that a renderer redraws at any size without ever going blurry. Converting between the two is called tracing (or vectorizing): the tool groups nearby pixels into a limited number of flat color regions, finds the outline of each region, and fits smooth curves to those outlines. The result is a real vector file you can open in Figma, Illustrator, Inkscape or drop straight into a web page.

Tracing shines on logos, icons, line art, screenshots of flat UI, stencils, silhouettes and simple illustrations — anything already made of a handful of solid colors. Those images vectorize cleanly, often ending up smaller than the original bitmap and infinitely scalable afterwards.

Being honest about photographs: tracing a photo does not recover "the vector it came from," because there never was one. The tracer has to approximate continuous gradients with a fixed number of flat regions, so skies band, skin tones posterize, and fine detail like hair or foliage explodes into thousands of tiny paths. A traced photo is usually far larger than the JPG you started with and looks like a screen-print of the original. If you want that poster effect, great — otherwise keep photos in a raster format and use SVG for artwork.

Everything here happens locally with the Canvas API and a JavaScript tracing library loaded into your browser. Nothing is uploaded, so client logos and unreleased brand assets stay on your machine.

Which preset to pick

  • Color (default) — a balanced ~16-color trace. Start here for most logos, icons and flat illustrations. Good detail without an enormous path count.
  • Color detailed — more colors and tighter curve-fitting tolerances. Use it when the default trace loses small shapes, thin strokes or subtle color steps. Expect a noticeably bigger file and a slower conversion.
  • Black & white (line art) — forces a two-color palette. Ideal for scanned ink drawings, signatures, stencils, stamps and single-color marks you want as a clean silhouette. Also the best way to get a crisp monochrome logo.
  • Posterized (few colors) — a deliberately coarse trace with a small palette and aggressive noise removal. Produces a screen-print / poster look and by far the smallest SVGs. It is also the most usable option if you insist on tracing a photograph.

The scale control multiplies the coordinates in the output SVG. Vectors are resolution-independent, so leave it at 1 unless a downstream tool expects larger numbers; higher values only make the file bigger.

Traced SVGs carry a lot of redundant precision and whitespace. Running the result through the SVG Optimizer typically strips a large chunk of the file size with no visible change — it is worth doing on every traced file before you ship it. Going the other way? Use the SVG to PNG converter to rasterize a vector back out at any resolution, or turn your freshly traced mark into a full icon set with the Favicon Generator.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I convert a PNG to SVG for free?

Drop your PNG or JPG onto this page, pick a tracing preset, and click Convert. The tool traces the bitmap into vector paths and gives you a downloadable .svg file. It is completely free, needs no account, and runs entirely in your browser.

Why does my photo look posterized as SVG?

Because tracing is for flat-color art. A vectorizer collapses the image into a small number of solid color regions and outlines each one, so smooth photographic gradients turn into visible bands — and the file balloons with thousands of paths. Use SVG for logos, icons and line art; keep photographs as PNG or JPG.

Is my logo uploaded anywhere?

No. Tracing runs in your browser — proprietary logos never leave your device. There is no server round-trip, no temporary storage and no "we delete files after an hour" promise to take on faith, because your image is never transmitted in the first place.

🔎 Verify it yourself: nothing uploads

Don’t take our word for it. Open your browser’s DevTools (F12 → Network tab), then run this tool on any image. You’ll see no upload request at all — your file never leaves this tab. You can even turn off Wi‑Fi once the page has loaded and keep working. Every tool on this site works the same way — all processing happens on your device.