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DXF to SVG Converter

Convert a .dxf into a clean vector SVG: one group per layer, layer colours kept, arcs as real curves, text as text. Ready for Inkscape, LightBurn, a browser or a web page. Free, no sign-up.

Drop a DXF here to get an SVG back.dwg (R12 to 2018) or .dxf (ASCII or binary) · up to 100 MB · phones and tablets welcomeChoose a DXF

How to convert DXF to SVG

Drop the .dxf

ASCII or binary, any release. A cut file, a logo traced in CAD, a floor plan — up to 100 MB.

Press Convert

Each layer becomes an SVG group, each entity a path, circle or text element, and the drawing's own coordinates become the viewBox.

Open the .svg anywhere

Inkscape shows the layers in its Layers panel; LightBurn reads the groups; a browser renders it; a web page can inline it.

What the SVG contains

A standalone SVG with a viewBox in the DXF’s own units. Inside it, one <g> per layer, in the order of the layer table, named after the layer (id="layer-CUT", data-layer="CUT") and labelled the way Inkscape labels its layers. Each entity is one element: a polyline is a single <path> with its arc segments, a circle a <circle>, text a <text>. Strokes carry the entity’s colour or the layer’s; dashed linetypes come out as stroke-dasharray; stroke widths are uniform and thin, the way a plot looks, rather than the lineweights a cutter would ignore anyway.

Blocks are expanded in place, so an inserted screw hole is a circle where the insert put it. Solid hatches are filled shapes; pattern hatches are drawn as their boundary with a light tint of their colour inside. Dimensions come with their arrows and text. Layers that are switched off, frozen or non-plotting are left out. The background is transparent by default; choose white or black to paint one, and on a black canvas the “ink” colour stays white while on white it is written as dark grey so the outlines are visible where the file is opened.

When DXF to SVG is the right move

When the next tool speaks SVG better than DXF. Inkscape imports DXF, but its importer flattens layers and guesses at units; an SVG with real layer groups and a unit-true viewBox lands cleanly. LightBurn and other laser software read SVG groups and colours as separate operations. Web developers want a plan or a part drawing inline in a page, styled with CSS — a DXF cannot do that, an SVG can. Print designers want the drawing in a layout program at vector quality. And a DXF of a logo or a sign is often headed for a cutter that takes SVG directly.

For a raster picture instead — a PNG for a slide, a JPG for a listing — convert the drawing to PNG rather than rasterising the SVG yourself; the converter sizes it correctly for print resolutions. For the reverse trip, use SVG to DXF.

Limits

100 MB per file, 60 seconds per conversion. A DXF that is thousands of hatch strokes converts, but the SVG will be as heavy as the DXF was.
Model space only; paper-space layouts are not exported.
Entities on a block’s own layer are grouped under the layer of the insert that placed them.
Raster images referenced by the DXF are shown as a dashed placeholder; ACIS solids are omitted.
Text uses a generic sans-serif face unless the DXF names a strokable SHX font; TrueType names in the file are not embedded.

DXF to SVG — frequently asked questions

Are layers kept in the SVG?

Yes — as groups. Every DXF layer that has entities on it becomes a <g> with an id, a data-layer attribute carrying the layer's exact name, and Inkscape's layer attributes, so Inkscape lists them in its Layers panel and LightBurn or a browser script can address them. Entities keep their own colour, or their layer's colour when they are ByLayer.

Is the text real text or outlines?

Real <text> elements, in a generic sans-serif font, with the size, rotation and justification from the DXF. That keeps them editable and selectable — change the font in Inkscape and every label follows. If the DXF names an SHX shape font the writer can stroke, that text is emitted as vector paths instead, which is what a plotter would have drawn.

What size is the SVG, and is it to scale?

The viewBox is the drawing's own extents in drawing units, with a two per cent margin, and the width is set to 1600 px with the height following the drawing's proportions. So 1 unit in the DXF is 1 user unit in the SVG — a 100 mm part spans 100 units — and a program that reads the viewBox (Inkscape does) can import it at real size. The pixel width is only a display hint.

Are arcs and circles kept as curves or turned into line segments?

Circles become <circle> elements. Arcs, ellipses and polyline bulges are sampled finely — about 64 segments to a full circle — and splines are sampled from their control points and knots, so a curve reads as a curve at any sensible zoom rather than a handful of chords. The Y axis is flipped for you: CAD counts up, SVG counts down, and the SVG comes out the right way up.

I need the opposite — SVG to DXF.

That is a separate converter, and it does something different: an SVG's paths and shapes are traced into DXF polylines for cutting or drafting. Use the SVG to DXF converter on this site — the link is at the bottom of this page.