What vectorizing an image means

A raster image, such as a PNG, JPG or WebP, is a grid of pixels, each with one color. Enlarge it and the pixels get bigger, so the edges blur or turn blocky. A vector image describes the picture as paths and fills instead: outlines made of lines and curves, and the color inside each one. The renderer draws those outlines at whatever size you ask for, so the edges stay sharp.

Vectorizing is the step from the first kind of image to the second. "Raster to vector", "image to vector" and "PNG to vector" all name the same job: tracing, which finds the areas of color in the pixels and outlines each one as a path.

An SVG that only wraps the original PNG in an <image> element has not been vectorized. It opens like an SVG, but it still blurs when enlarged, because the picture inside is still pixels. How to tell a real vector from a wrapped PNG.

How png2svg.art vectorizes an image

  1. It chooses a small set of flat colors, up to the number you set, from the flat insides of shapes, never from their soft anti-aliased edges.
  2. It assigns every pixel to one of those colors. In a PNG or WebP, pixels that are less than half opaque belong to no color and stay transparent.
  3. It traces the colors together, so where two colors meet they share one boundary, fitted with straight segments and Bézier curves. (Line art / Stencil, and traces with Smooth curves off, are outlined one color at a time by Potrace, an open-source bitmap tracer.)
  4. It writes one <path> per color, filled with that color. Holes, such as the inside of an "O", stay open.
  5. It checks every result to contain vector paths only, with no embedded bitmap and no script, before the result is stored.

Tracing is deterministic image processing, not AI. It does not invent detail or redraw your picture in a new style; it outlines the colors that are already there.

When it works, and when it does not

Images that vectorize well:

  • logos, icons and line art;
  • stickers, clip art and flat illustrations;
  • flat-style AI art with a few solid colors (AI image to SVG).

Images that do not:

  • Photographs, gradients and soft shadows. They come out as flat bands of color, like a poster, because every trace has at most 24 colors. Why photos posterize.
  • Small text. Letters below roughly 10 px tall do not trace cleanly. Retype them with a font in a vector editor and place them over the trace.
  • Small or blurry images. Tracing does not add resolution, so the outlines come out rounder and softer than the design you had in mind.

Vectorize an image in four steps

  1. Upload a PNG, JPG or WebP of up to 25 MB, in the box on this page or on the converter.
  2. Choose a preset and move the Colors, up to slider to the number of colors you can see.
  3. Check the free watermarked preview, with no sign-up, and re-trace if the shapes are off.
  4. Unlock the clean SVG for 1 credit (1 free with an account) and download it.

Every setting is explained, with the same job in Inkscape and Illustrator, in how to convert a PNG to SVG, step by step.

Questions

Is image to vector the same as PNG to SVG?

Mostly. SVG is the vector format used on the web and by cutting software, and it is the only format the png2svg.art tracer outputs, so vectorizing an image here always gives you an SVG.

Can I vectorize a photo?

Yes, but it comes out as flat color areas, up to 24 colors, not as a photo-real vector. That can be what you want for a poster or stencil look.

What does raster to vector mean?

Turning a grid of pixels into paths: tracing the areas of color in a raster image and outlining each one, so the result scales without blur.

Is it free?

The watermarked preview is free with no sign-up (5 a day as a guest). A clean SVG costs 1 credit (1 free with an account).

Can I edit the vector afterwards?

Yes. Each color is one path that you can recolor, move or hide in the SVG editor, which needs an account. To reshape individual curves, use a desktop vector editor such as Inkscape: the browser editor's node tool does not work on traced paths.