They are totally fine for simple shapes but will likely be bad at even slightly more complicated shapes and completely fail for photographs. There are a lot of free software out there that will convert your image for free.

I went on this tangent about the quality of the image for a reason. What does bad file conversion mean for you? It means the SVG version of the image does not look like the original. I do not have the technical chops to design a vectorization algorithm. I’ve had my fair share of math in the process. To put things into perspective, I have a Masters in Electrical Engineering from MIT. It requires A LOT of math and expertise to do. Vector image conversion is a technically complicated thing. I’ve seen a lot of tutorials and advice on how to turn an image into a cut file online, frequently written by non-technical people that do not mention anything about the quality of the file conversion. Technicalities in converting images to SVGs This is another vector format used by older Silhouette machines. The cutting machine has no use for pixel information, it needs directional information so the blade knows which way to cut.Īn SVG file (also known as a cut file, vector image, vectorized image) is a set of directional information describing how to cut the shapes in the image. You can tell the type of file it is by looking at the extension on the file name or by right-clicking and selecting properties.

Common file formats include PNG and JPEG.

This means the computer stores the image information as a pixel, little dots of color. Most images you see on your phone or computer are bitmap images. How to Convert PNGs to SVGs for the Cricut?įirst things first, I’d like to provide a mini technical lesson on image formats to understand why you need a special file for your cutting machine.

Inkscape cricut layers