Image to SVG Tracer - Convert Raster Images to Scalable Vectors

How to use the image tracer

1. Drop an image or click to browse for a PNG, JPG, GIF, or BMP file.
2. Choose B&W mode for logos/line art or Color mode for illustrations.
3. For B&W: adjust the threshold slider until the preview looks right.
4. For Color: set the number of posterize levels (fewer = simpler SVG).
5. Fine-tune turd size, corner smoothing, and scale as needed.
6. Click Trace to generate the SVG, then download it.

Common use cases:

• Vectorize a logo from a PNG or scanned image
• Convert hand-drawn sketches or signatures to SVG
• Create scalable icons from raster originals
• Posterize illustrations for stylized vector art

Understanding the tracing parameters

• Threshold (B&W) - Pixels darker than this value become black. Adjust to capture the right amount of detail.
• Turd size - Filters out small blobs. Higher values produce cleaner output but may lose fine details.
• Alphamax - Controls corner smoothing. 0 = sharp corners, 1.334 = smoothest curves.
• Turn policy - How the tracer resolves ambiguous corners. Minority (default) usually works best.
• Opticurve - Optimizes Bezier curves for smaller, cleaner paths.
• Posterize levels (Color) - Number of color layers extracted. More layers = more paths = larger SVG.
• Scale down - Reduces image size before tracing. Use this for photos to keep SVG manageable.

Best practices for clean SVG output

• Start with high-contrast source images whenever possible.
• For logos: use B&W mode and experiment with threshold until edges are crisp.
• For line art: keep turd size low (2-5) to preserve fine strokes.
• For illustrations: use Color mode with 4-8 posterize levels for flat color areas.
• For photos: scale down significantly and accept artistic stylization.
• If SVG is too large: increase turd size, reduce posterize levels, or scale down more.
• Enable opticurve and increase tolerance for simpler, smaller paths.

When to use raster vs vector tracing

Not every image benefits from tracing. Here is when each approach works best:

• Trace to SVG: Logos, icons, signatures, line art, flat illustrations, silhouettes, QR codes.
• Keep as raster: Photos, gradients, complex textures, images where pixel-level detail matters.

Tracing photos will produce stylized, posterized results. If you need photorealistic output, keep the original raster format and use the Image Converter tool instead.