CAD Converter
Convert CAD drawings from DXF to vector SVG and PDF, or raster PNG. Share technical drawings without CAD software — free and in your browser.
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All supported formats
DXF in, vector or raster out
The problem this category solves is a narrow one: you have a CAD drawing and the person you need to send it to does not have CAD software. DXF converts to SVG, PDF, EPS, or PNG, all of which open with no special tools.
The DXF is parsed by ezdxf, which reads the drawing's entities — lines, arcs, circles, polylines, text, hatches, dimensions — as structured objects rather than as an image. Those entities are drawn through a matplotlib backend running headlessly, which then writes the output. SVG, PDF, and EPS stay vector, so the drawing scales cleanly to any size. PNG is a raster render at a fixed resolution.
Why DWG is not supported
DWG is AutoCAD's native format and it is proprietary. Its specification is not openly published and the only reliable converters are commercial products. There is no honest open-source path, so rather than offer something that half-works, DWG is not supported at all.
DXF is the interchange format Autodesk publishes precisely so that other software can read it, and every CAD package can export it. Export to DXF first and the rest of this works.
Modelspace is what gets drawn
A DXF has two kinds of space. Modelspace holds the drawing itself at real-world scale. Paper space holds the layouts — title blocks, sheet borders, and viewports that frame parts of the model at particular scales for printing.
The conversion renders modelspace. Paper-space layouts, title blocks, and sheet borders are not part of the export. If what you need is the sheet as it would print, produce the PDF from the CAD application, which knows about layouts. If what you need is the geometry, converting the DXF is exactly right.
Conversion is one-way
Nothing here writes DXF back out, and that is deliberate. Turning a raster into DXF would mean tracing an image and then inferring which traced lines were meant to be circles, which were dimension leaders, and what the layer structure was. Even from SVG or PDF, where the paths are real, a path is not a CAD entity: it has no layer, no line type, no block reference, and no relationship to the rest of the drawing.
Producing a file that opens in AutoCAD would be easy. Producing one a drafter can actually work with is a different project, so CAD is a one-way street here.
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Frequently asked questions
- Can I convert DWG files?
- No. DWG is proprietary and the only reliable converters are commercial. Export your drawing to DXF from AutoCAD or your CAD package first — DXF is the interchange format Autodesk publishes for exactly this purpose.
- Will my title block and sheet layout appear in the output?
- No. The conversion renders modelspace, and title blocks, sheet borders, and viewports live in paper space. For a print-ready sheet, export the PDF from the CAD application itself.
- Should I convert to SVG or PDF?
- Both stay vector. Choose PDF when you are sending the drawing to someone to review or print, and SVG when it is going onto a website or into a design tool where you want to style it.
- Can I convert a PNG or PDF back to DXF?
- No, and this is a deliberate limitation. Reconstructing real CAD entities — with layers, line types, and block references — from an image or a set of generic vector paths is a fundamentally different problem, and a converter that claimed to do it would mostly produce files that look right and are useless.
- Is the CAD Converter free?
- Yes, every conversion is completely free with no account and no watermark.
- Do I need to install anything?
- No. Use the tool from your browser; files are uploaded to our servers for processing.
- Are my files safe?
- Files are auto-deleted after 2 hours and are never shared.