Tracing, not wrapping
A PNG is a grid of coloured squares. An SVG can hold two very different things: vector shapes described by their outlines, or a PNG tucked inside an SVG file. Only the first one stays sharp when you make it bigger, can be recoloured shape by shape, and gives a cutting machine or laser engraver lines to follow. A file of the second kind ends in .svg but is still the same grid of squares.
This page traces: it groups the picture into areas of flat colour and draws the outline of each area as curves and straight lines. Every colour becomes one path in the file, and the result panel says how many colours and shapes the SVG contains and confirms there are no embedded pixels in it.
How close is the SVG to the original?
After tracing, the page draws the SVG again at the size of your picture and compares the two pixel by pixel. We tested it on pictures whose shapes we drew ourselves, so the right answer was known exactly (October 2026, Chrome):
| Picture | Mode | Shapes matched | File size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Three-colour logo, transparent PNG, 512 × 512 | Logo, 3 colours found automatically | 99.2–99.8% per colour | 17 KB PNG → 2.2 KB SVG |
| Same logo on white, saved as JPG | Logo, white left out | 99.2–99.8% per colour | 3 paths, background transparent |
| Same logo shrunk to a 64 × 64 icon | Logo, enlarged 8× before tracing | 83–98% per colour | 3.7 KB SVG |
| Ink signature photographed on grey paper | One colour | 90.5% of the ink | One black path, 3.1 KB, paper left out |
| Smooth colour gradient (photo-like) | Many colours | 82.5% of pixels | 13 KB JPG → 31 KB SVG |
Logos, icons and drawings with flat colours trace almost exactly, and the SVG is usually much smaller than the PNG. The JPG copy on white scores as well as the transparent PNG: the soft grey pixels along each edge are a mix of the shape and the background, and the page gives each one to whichever of the two it is closer to, instead of to whatever palette colour happens to be nearest, which on our first try left thin blue lines around the black shapes. Gradients and photos turn into flat bands of colour: the result can look like a poster, but it is not a faithful copy, and the file grows instead of shrinking.
Which mode to choose
| Your picture | Mode | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Logo, icon, sticker, clip art | Logo or icon | The number of colours is counted for you (2–16); each colour is one path you can recolour |
| Design for Cricut, Silhouette, vinyl, stencil, laser engraving; a signature | One colour | Only the dark shapes, with the light parts left out, so the machine cuts exactly those outlines |
| Illustration, map, comic panel | Drawing with many colours | Up to 32 colours; more detail, larger file |
Curves sets how closely the outline follows the pixels: exact keeps every step, very smooth rounds them off, which suits hand-drawn art. Ignore specks drops tiny dots of noise, such as JPG artefacts or dust on a scan. In the one-colour mode the dark/light point is picked from the picture itself; move it if thin lines break up or the background shows through.
Small images and big ones
A small icon is enlarged before tracing, up to eight times, so its edges become curves rather than a staircase of pixel corners; the SVG still opens at the original size, and because it is a vector it can then be scaled to any size. Very large pictures are traced at 1600 pixels on the long side to keep the page responsive, which is plenty for a logo.
Related tools
To go the other way and turn an SVG into a PNG at an exact pixel size, use SVG to PNG. To make a logo’s white background transparent but keep it as a PNG, Make background transparent; to turn a logo or scan into pure black and white pixels first, Black and white image; and for app and website icons, Image to favicon.