SVG Forge — Image to SVG & Laser Cut Lines

1 Source image

Drop an image, click, or paste

PNG, JPG, WebP, GIF or SVG-safe bitmap

Working resolution

Large images are scaled down before tracing. Higher means more detail and more nodes.

2 Mode

Colour traceFull-colour vector artwork from any photo or logo Silhouette + cut lineOne clean closed outline around the shape Centerline (single line)One stroke down the middle of each line — for scoring sketches

3 Colour trace

Preset

Also make a cut line around the artwork Sticker workflow: colour art to engrave/print plus one outline to cut.

3 Shape detection

What is the background?

Everything not transparent becomes the shape.

Threshold50

Slide until the mask preview shows exactly the shape you want.

Invert — trace the background instead

Remove specks smaller than24 px²

Holes inside the shape

Small hole limit64 px²

Grow / shrink outline0.0 px

Positive adds a margin around the shape (sticker bleed). Negative pulls the cut inside — useful for laser kerf.

Mask preview—

4 Path shaping

Simplify30

Removes nodes. Too much and small features disappear.

Smoothing45

0 gives straight segments and hard corners. Higher fits flowing curves.

Which contours

5 Output & real size

Trim to artworkCrop empty space so the size below is the artwork itself.

Artwork width—

The SVG carries this real size, so LightBurn, Illustrator, Inkscape and Cricut import it at the right scale. A surrounding cut adds its margin on top — the figure on the right is the finished sheet.

Cut line colour#ff0000

Most laser software maps stroke colour to a layer. Red is the usual cut layer.

Cut stroke width

Add a surrounding cut

Also build a layered fileEngrave layer + cut layer grouped in one SVG.

100%

⬚Drop a PNG or JPG on the left to begin.
Everything runs in your browser — nothing is uploaded.

Size — Real — Paths — Nodes — File —

How to use this — and what changed

Pick the right mode

Colour trace — photos, logos, illustrations. Produces filled colour paths. Tick Also make a cut line for die-cut stickers.
Silhouette + cut line — one closed outline around the subject. Best from a PNG with a transparent background, but the White / light and Pick a colour options handle flat-background JPGs too.
Centerline — traces a single stroke down the middle of each line instead of outlining both sides of it. This is what you want for scoring hand-drawn artwork, maps and lettering.

Getting a clean cut line

Watch the Mask preview thumbnail while dragging Threshold — black is what gets traced.
Remove specks kills dust and JPEG noise. Fill holes closes gaps you do not want cut out.
Grow / shrink gives a sticker bleed (positive) or compensates for laser kerf (negative).
Simplify then Smoothing: simplify removes nodes, smoothing rounds what is left. A cut line of 200–800 nodes runs far better on a laser than one with 20,000.

Real-world size

Set Physical width and the exported SVG is written with width="120mm"-style units and a matching viewBox, so it imports at exactly that size. Stroke width is written in real millimetres too — 0.01 mm is the hairline most laser software treats as a pure vector cut.

Companion Python scripts

Transparent image · Cut line circle — the circle script is now built in as Add a surrounding cut → Circle.

Shortcuts

Paste an image straight from the clipboard with ⌘V / Ctrl+V.
Drag inside the preview to pan, scroll to zoom, Fit to reset.
Settings are remembered in this browser.