CADverter

CAD drawing → web and cutters · true curves · nothing uploaded

Convert DXF to SVG without losing the curves

Drop a .dxf drawing and download an .svg that any browser, Inkscape, Illustrator or laser-cutter software opens — with arcs still arcs, layers still separate, and 1 mm in the drawing equal to 1 mm in the SVG. Converted entirely on your device.

Drop a DXF here to convert it to SVG
one file or many — or
no file handy?

🔒 File contents stay on this device — the CAD kernel and every file writer run in this browser tab.

Each DXF layer becomes an SVG group

The writer emits one per layer, named after it, carrying the layer’s colour as the group’s stroke. An SVG that lands in Inkscape therefore arrives with cut lines, engrave lines and dimensions already separable — the structure a cutter’s job setup needs — instead of one flat pile of paths. Entities with their own colour override the layer’s.

Colours and dashed linetypes survive

DXF colour indices are mapped to RGB through the AutoCAD Color Index table, and hidden, centre and dashed linetypes are written as stroke-dasharray patterns scaled to the drawing, so a hidden line is still visibly a hidden line. Stroke width is chosen relative to the sheet so the drawing reads correctly at any zoom.

Arcs stay arcs, ellipses stay ellipses

The most common DXF-to-SVG failure is flattening: every arc turned into a hundred short line segments, so the outline is faceted when zoomed and a laser follows a polygon instead of a curve. CADverter writes DXF ARC and CIRCLE entities as true SVG arcs, ELLIPSE as ellipses, and DXF SPLINE entities as cubic Bézier paths, which is what an SVG holds natively. The result is smooth at any magnification and a cutter drives the real curve.

Sized in real millimetres

The root element carries width and height in millimetres and a matching viewBox, computed from the drawing’s $INSUNITS and extents, so a 100 mm part is a 100 mm SVG. Inkscape, Illustrator and LightBurn import it at scale with no unit dialog and no 96-dpi guesswork.

Which DXF files it reads

ASCII DXF from R12 through the current release — the entity set CAD, CAM and laser software actually writes: LINE, LWPOLYLINE and POLYLINE with bulge arcs, ARC, CIRCLE, ELLIPSE, SPLINE and TEXT/MTEXT. Block references are expanded in place. A DXF holding 3D meshes or solids opens as a model instead; CADverter checks the contents, not the extension. Whatever cannot be read is counted and reported rather than dropped without a word.

Laser cutting, vinyl, web and print

This is the export you want when the DXF has to go to a laser or vinyl cutter whose software prefers SVG, into a web page or documentation, or into Illustrator or Inkscape for finishing. For paper output the same panel writes PDF and EPS at true scale; for plotters, HP-GL. The panel names, before you download, anything the chosen target cannot carry.

Converted here, not on a server

DXF parsing and SVG writing are plain JavaScript inside the page — no WebAssembly engine is even needed for a 2D drawing, so the conversion is instant and the Network panel stays empty after the page loads. The production build is tested to make zero external requests across an open, convert and download.

DXF to SVG questions

Will the SVG open at the right size in Inkscape?

Yes. Width and height are written in millimetres with a matching viewBox, so Inkscape shows the drawing at real scale without a unit prompt.

Are layers preserved?

Yes — each layer is a named <g> group with the layer colour. Inkscape shows them as groups; use “Layers from groups” if you want them as Inkscape layers.

Is text converted?

DXF text is written as SVG text elements at the right position and size, using the viewer’s font; it is not outlined into paths. Convert to paths in Inkscape if the cutter needs outlines.

Can I convert many DXF files at once?

Yes. Drop several, choose SVG, and download a ZIP with one SVG per drawing.

See also: SVG to DXF, the other direction · PDF to DXF · or extrude the DXF into a solid — or the CADverter home page for every format.