Trace an image for Cricut: cut-ready SVG (Beta)

Turn a picture into a clean SVG for Cricut Design Space: smooth outlines, no specks, no background.

Opens: PNG, JPEG, WebP, GIF, HEIC, AVIF, BMP, TIFF, ZIP
Saves: SVG, PDF, EPS, DXF, ZIP

Vectorize

Pictures
Choose files… or drop them here
.png, .jpg, .jpeg, .jfif, .webp, .gif, .heic, .heif, .hif, .avif, .bmp, .tif, .tiff, .ico, .tga, .qoi, .pbm, .pgm, .ppm, .pnm, .apng, .zip · up to 200 MB each, 50 files max
    Add more files

    One picture or many, or a .zip of a folder (sub-folders are kept in the result).

    Options
    Picture type

    Each picture shows a sample: the original on the left, its tracing on the right. The choice sets every setting below; anything you change is laid over it.

    Tracing method

    Usually left as the picture type sets. Single lines (red in the pictures) follow the middle of each stroke, for engraving, plotters and embroidery.

    Empty: decided from the picture. The background counts as a colour.

    The colour around the edge of the picture is not traced.

    Trace pixels that are

    Unlike the background: any colour that stands out. Darker than a level: dark marks only, so highlighter and faint pencil drop out. Darker than the surroundings: pages with shadows or uneven light. Not transparent: the shape of a cut-out picture. One colour: only marks of that colour.

    0 is black, 255 white. Pixels darker than this are traced: raise it for faint pencil.

    A hex colour, e.g. #e30613.

    More options

    Empty: as the picture type sets (12 for logos, 24 for clip art, 32 for photos, 64 for pixel art).

    Optional, for vinyl or thread colours: hex colours separated by commas, e.g. #000000, #ffffff, #e30613. Every area takes the nearest of them.

    Layering

    Cut-out shapes fit together like a puzzle, with holes where others sit: right for cutting and editing. Stacked shapes lie whole on top of each other: fewer nodes and no hairline gaps on screen.

    Colour difference: about 2 is barely visible, 12 a clear shade, 30 or more takes in neighbouring colours.

    How far around each pixel the light is measured. A little more than the thickest stroke works well.

    How much darker than its surroundings a pixel must be: lower picks up fainter marks (and more paper texture).

    Traces the other part: use it when the tracing shows the background instead of the drawing.

    Empty: the drawing's own colour. A hex colour such as #000000 makes them all that colour.

    Evens out rough pencil and paper texture. Empty: as the picture type sets (0 to 0.8).

    Width of the single lines. Empty or 0: measured from the picture.

    Empty or 0: decided from the line width.

    Thicker ink becomes filled shapes. Empty or 0: decided from the picture.

    Removes dust, noise and tiny holes. Empty: as the picture type sets (6 for logos, 20 for scans, 30 for photos).

    How far outlines may stray from the pixel edges: 0.3 follows them closely, 1.5 rounds them off. Empty: as the picture type sets.

    0 keeps every corner sharp, 1.34 rounds them all, about 1 looks natural. Empty: as the picture type sets.

    How far joined curves may stray: larger gives fewer nodes. Empty: as the picture type sets (0.25 to 0.5).

    Circles and ellipses

    The squares mark nodes: an exact circle needs only four.

    Against JPEG blocks, film grain and scanner dust; higher also rounds off small details. Empty: as the picture type sets.

    The unit of the drawing's width and height. DXF files are in millimetres unless centimetres or inches are chosen.

    In the size unit above, e.g. 100 for a 100 mm wide design. The height follows the picture's proportions. Empty: from the resolution below.

    Sets the physical size when no width is given: a 960 px wide picture at 96 is 10 inches (254 mm) wide, at 300 it is 3.2 inches.

    What cutters and lasers follow as cut lines. Single lines keep their width.

    Paints the background colour behind the shapes (SVG, PDF and EPS).

    Some viewers draw faint seams where colour shapes meet. A thin edge in each shape's own colour hides them.

    For checking the tracing against the picture in Inkscape or Illustrator. Makes the SVG larger.

    Your files are deleted after processing.

    A cut file made of smooth vector shapes gives clean cut lines, keeps its size, and needs no background clean-up in Design Space. This page traces your PNG or JPG into such an SVG with the Shapes to cut settings: smooth outlines, few nodes, specks dropped and no background.

    How to make a cut file for Cricut

    1. Upload the picture: a silhouette, a quote, a logo or a drawing with clear edges.
    2. Keep Shapes to cut. The design is traced as one colour; the paper is never part of it.
    3. Under More options the size unit is inches. Type the Width you want, for example 4, and the height follows. You can still resize the design in Design Space.
    4. Download the SVG. In Design Space choose Upload, then Upload Image, and pick the file.

    Designs with several colours

    For layered vinyl or cardstock, choose Logo or icon (flat colours) and tick Leave out the background colour. All shapes of one colour are one path in the SVG, so Design Space lists one layer per colour. Keep Layering on Cut-out: the colours then fit together edge to edge instead of being stacked, which saves material. To match your vinyl colours, list them under Use only these colours, for example #000000, #ffffff, #c8102e.

    Getting clean cuts

    • Specks: dust and stray pixels smaller than 25 square pixels are left out. Raise the value under More options if tiny pieces remain; they are hard to weed.
    • Smoothness: raise Smoothness (for example to 1.5) for rounder, simpler outlines and fewer cuts; lower it to follow the picture more closely.
    • Lettering: thin script fonts trace well only from a large, sharp picture. Very thin parts may tear when weeding; thicken them before tracing if you can.
    • Wrong part traced: if the tracing shows the background instead of your design (this can happen when the design touches the edges of the picture), tick Swap drawing and background under More options.

    Check before cutting

    The result page shows your picture next to the tracing. Look for missing pieces, joined letters and leftover specks before you upload the file; changing a setting and tracing again only takes a few seconds.

    More about what this tool reads and writes: Image Vectorizer.