Convert DXF file to SVG online

Drop the DXF file below, click Export, then SVG, and the whole drawing is saved as a scalable vector graphic you can open in Inkscape, a browser, or a laser-cutter app. The conversion runs in your browser tab; nothing is uploaded.

How to convert DXF to SVG free

DXF and SVG are both vector formats, so this conversion loses nothing you can see. The viewer reads ASCII and binary DXF of any version and writes one SVG of the full drawing extents.

1. Drop the .dxf on the zone above. No sign-up and no install; the DXF is parsed by JavaScript on your device.
2. Turn off layers you do not want in the SVG (dimensions, hatches, text) in the layers panel; hidden layers are excluded.
3. Click Export, then SVG, and select the area: drag a rectangle, or take the whole drawing. The browser downloads the file.
4. Open it in Inkscape or a browser to verify. For cutting or engraving, set the physical size next; see the scale note below.

The export does not depend on the zoom or the theme on screen: it writes the selected area in the real layer colors. If a part of the drawing seems missing, it is usually on a layer that was hidden, outside the rectangle you drew, or it is paper-space content; how to open a DXF file covers what the viewer shows.

DXF to SVG in Inkscape

Inkscape imports DXF natively, which is why “inkscape dxf to svg” is such a common search. It is a good route when you want control over scale and layers at import time.

1. File → Open, pick the .dxf. Inkscape runs its DXF input extension (R12 to R14 DXF are read best; a 2018 DXF with newer entities may lose some objects).
2. The import dialog offers a scale method: manual scale factor, automatic from the drawing extents, or read from the $INSUNITS header. Choose “read from file” when the DXF was saved with units.
3. Optional: “Use layers” maps DXF layers to Inkscape layers, and the character-encoding option matters for non-English text.
4. File → Save As, format Inkscape SVG or Plain SVG.

Inkscape handles lines, polylines, arcs, circles, and most splines; hatches and dimensions become plain geometry; blocks are expanded. If the import looks empty, the DXF is often a 3D drawing or is in a version Inkscape's extension cannot parse; opening it here first and exporting SVG sidesteps that.

Scale, units, and what ends up in the SVG

The biggest gotcha of DXF to SVG is size. A DXF is drawn in model units (millimeters, inches, or just “units”), and a plain SVG has user units with no physical meaning until a width, height, and viewBox tie them to millimeters.

• For a web graphic, size does not matter; the SVG scales to its container.
• For a laser cutter, vinyl plotter, or CNC, open the SVG in Inkscape, measure one known length, and scale the document so it matches, or set the scale in Document Properties.
• For a drawing with SHX text, expect a substitute font; convert text to paths before sending it to a machine.
• In the viewer's SVG, one drawing unit is one SVG user unit, strokes are thin hairlines (set a width in Inkscape for display or for the cutter), and paths are grouped by color rather than by layer; there are no layer groups. Hide layers before export to leave them out.

Converting in the other direction, from SVG into a drawing a CAD program can edit, is a separate job described in SVG to DXF.

DXF to SVG on Linux and from the command line

Everything here runs on Linux; the viewer in Firefox or Chrome, and these tools in a terminal.

Open source throughout: Inkscape, ezdxf, and LibreDWG are free software; QCAD's Community edition is open source while the CLI tools are in the paid edition. If your source is a DWG rather than a DXF, run it through DWG to DXF first or use the DWG to SVG page, which exports directly.

DXF to SVG in JavaScript

Developers who want the conversion inside their own web page have two well-known open source libraries. The dxf package on npm parses a DXF and has a toSVG() helper that returns an SVG string, which is enough for previews. dxf-parser returns the entity tree and leaves rendering to you (three-dxf draws it with three.js). Both run entirely in the browser, which is the same privacy model this viewer uses: the file is read in the tab and never sent anywhere.

If you only need the output, not the code, the Export button above is the shortest path. For DXF-specific questions beyond conversion, the sister site dxfviewer.app runs the same engine.

Frequently asked questions