PNG ↔ SVG

1. Upload your file. The direction is detected automatically by type: SVG becomes PNG, a pixel image becomes SVG.
2. Converting SVG to PNG, set the width and height you want.
3. Converting to SVG, choose between embedding the image or genuinely tracing it.

SVG to PNG is straightforward and always works: the vector drawing is rendered at whatever size you ask for, sharp at any dimension.

PNG to SVG has no exact conversion. A pixel image contains no shapes; it contains a grid of colours. Turning that into vectors means guessing where the edges are — and guessing well is hard.

That is why the reverse direction offers two modes with completely different results.

Embedding places the original image inside an SVG file as encoded content. The result carries the .svg extension and opens in any viewer, but it is still a pixel image: it does not scale without losing sharpness and the file ends up larger than the original.

It is useful when a system demands the .svg extension but the content itself need not be vector.

Tracing follows the colour areas and generates real shapes. It works well on logos, icons and line art with few flat colours and defined edges.

On photography the result is poor: tracing generates thousands of shapes trying to reproduce gradients, and the file ends up enormous and visually worse than the original.

• An old logo that survives only as a pixel image.
• A simple icon that needs to scale to large sizes.
• Line art with few colours and clean outlines.
• Never for photography, portraits or images with smooth gradients.