Comparison

potrace vs VTracer vs VecSnap, on the same images.

We gave the same ten images to potrace, the tracer inside Inkscape, to VTracer and to VecSnap, and counted every file the way Illustrator counts anchor points.

  • Free, open-source tracers, at their documented settings
  • Measured again with every VecSnap release
A navy teapot, its body one circle, with an ochre lid and knob, a coral spout and a coral ring handle, on pale blue: potrace's filepotrace
A navy teapot, its body one circle, with an ochre lid and knob, a coral spout and a coral ring handle, on pale blue: VTracer's fileVTracer
A navy teapot, its body one circle, with an ochre lid and knob, a coral spout and a coral ring handle, on pale blue: VecSnap's fileVecSnap
ten images, every file counted
potraceGPL-2.0 · open source
51,667anchor points
1,593 KBin all
VTracerMIT · open source
22,051anchor points
892 KBin all
VecSnapDrawn again as shapes
1,185anchor points
30 KBin all

potrace vs VTracer: both are free vectorizers, open-source tracers. potrace, the engine of Inkscape's Trace Bitmap, traces one color at a time; VTracer traces every color in one pass. Both follow the pixels, so a logo comes out with thousands of anchor points. On the ten images below, VTracer left fewer than potrace on seven. VecSnap drew each one again as shapes, with fewer anchor points than either.

Updated 3 sources ↓

Every image, measured

Which tracer leaves the fewest anchor points?

VTracer left fewer anchor points than potrace on seven of the ten images, and more on three: the bakery mark (a JPG), the cable car (a lossy WebP) and the kitchen shelf (a lossy WebP). VecSnap left fewer than both on every one.

Each picture is that tool's own file of the same input, drawn whole. The figures are counted from the files you can open.

Original
potrace
VTracer
VecSnap
simple icon6 images

The Ondaro club badge

Badge

  • 99.1% fewer than potrace
  • 98% fewer than VTracer
A round badge: a navy ring around a sand disc, a coral sun, two navy bars and a small coral star
pixels2,048 × 2,048 px
The Ondaro club badge, as potrace draws it
4,051points135 KB
The Ondaro club badge, as VTracer draws it
2,475points102 KB
The Ondaro club badge, as VecSnap draws it
36points0.80 KB

The Ondaro mark

Logo mark

  • 99.6% fewer than potrace
  • 97% fewer than VTracer
The Ondaro logo mark: a navy ring with a small coral circle inside it, near the top right
pixels2,048 × 2,048 px
The Ondaro mark, as potrace draws it
3,110points113 KB
The Ondaro mark, as VTracer draws it
595points26 KB
The Ondaro mark, as VecSnap draws it
12points0.27 KB

Four ride icons

Icon set

  • 97% fewer than potrace
  • 89% fewer than VTracer
Four navy icons on cream: a water bottle, a helmet, a wheel and a mug
pixels2,048 × 2,048 px
Four ride icons, as potrace draws it
8,109points307 KB
Four ride icons, as VTracer draws it
1,946points84 KB
Four ride icons, as VecSnap draws it
198points5.5 KB

A potted cactus

Potted cactus

  • 99.5% fewer than potrace
  • 85% fewer than VTracer
A flat potted cactus on a transparent background: three navy rounded stems with two ochre flowers, in a coral pot with a pale blue rim
pixels1,200 × 1,200 px
A potted cactus, as potrace draws it
18,982points444 KB
A potted cactus, as VTracer draws it
537points24 KB
A potted cactus, as VecSnap draws it
76points2.0 KB

A bakery's mark

Bakery mark

  • 98% fewer than potrace
  • 98% fewer than VTracer
A round navy bakery mark: an ochre croissant of five segments under a small coral circle, saved as a compressed JPEG
pixels900 × 900 px
A bakery's mark, as potrace draws it
5,113points153 KB
A bakery's mark, as VTracer draws it
5,304points195 KB
A bakery's mark, as VecSnap draws it
76points2.3 KB

A tea room's mark

Teapot mark

  • 93% fewer than potrace
  • 73% fewer than VTracer
A navy teapot, its body one circle, with an ochre lid and knob, a coral spout and a coral ring handle, on pale blue
pixels1,200 × 1,200 px
A tea room's mark, as potrace draws it
933points35 KB
A tea room's mark, as VTracer draws it
228points10 KB
A tea room's mark, as VecSnap draws it
60points1.6 KB
flat illustration1 image

A cable car over the hills

Cable car

  • 92% fewer than potrace
  • 95% fewer than VTracer
A flat coral cable car with a navy roof and two round windows hanging from a thin coral cable over coral and navy hills, an ochre sun high in the sky, saved as a lossy WebP
pixels1,024 × 1,024 px
A cable car over the hills, as potrace draws it
1,975points68 KB
A cable car over the hills, as VTracer draws it
2,988points120 KB
A cable car over the hills, as VecSnap draws it
139points3.4 KB
logo with text1 image

The NORTHWIND logo

NORTHWIND logo

  • 92% fewer than potrace
  • 65% fewer than VTracer
A logo on a pale blue ground: a navy mountain with an ochre sun behind its right shoulder, above the word NORTHWIND in navy capitals
pixels1,200 × 805 px
The NORTHWIND logo, as potrace draws it
1,550points53 KB
The NORTHWIND logo, as VTracer draws it
334points14 KB
The NORTHWIND logo, as VecSnap draws it
116points2.2 KB
AI-made mascot1 image

A toucan mascot

Toucan mascot

  • 95% fewer than potrace
  • 74% fewer than VTracer
A flat toucan mascot in profile on a pale blue ground: a navy body, a large ochre beak with a coral band near its tip, a pale blue eye ring with a navy pupil, perched on a straight coral branch
pixels1,200 × 1,200 px
A toucan mascot, as potrace draws it
1,971points63 KB
A toucan mascot, as VTracer draws it
308points14 KB
A toucan mascot, as VecSnap draws it
80points1.9 KB
detailed illustration1 image

A kitchen shelf

Kitchen shelf

  • 93% fewer than potrace
  • 94% fewer than VTracer
A flat navy kitchen shelf holding three jars with coral and ochre contents, a round navy kettle, two stacked cups, a potted ochre plant, and a round clock on the wall above
pixels2,048 × 2,048 px
A kitchen shelf, as potrace draws it
5,873points222 KB
A kitchen shelf, as VTracer draws it
7,336points302 KB
A kitchen shelf, as VecSnap draws it
392points10 KB

Every file, added up

  • 97% fewer than potrace
  • 94% fewer than VTracer
51,667points1,593 KB22,051points892 KB1,185points30 KB
Examples we picked, made with Gemini. potrace and VTracer are open-source tracers; each picture is that tool's own file of the same image.

Up close

What does each file look like up close?

A tracer leaves an anchor point at every step of the pixels' edge, and VecSnap leaves one where the shape turns. Pick an image and look at the same spot in each file.
Original
1,200 pxthe PNG as uploaded, its own pixels
potrace
933anchor points in the whole file
VTracer
228anchor points in the whole file
VecSnap
60anchor points in the whole file

Try it

What does VecSnap make of my own image?

Drop it here: VecSnap draws it as shapes and counts every anchor point, as it counted ours, before you keep anything.
OriginalVecSnap
Anchor points
VecSnap 60, potrace 93393% fewer
File size
VecSnap 1.6 KB, potrace 35 KB95% lighter

No image at hand? Try one of ours

Now yours: drop an image

See your image drawn as shapes, every anchor point counted. Converting and previewing are free.

At a glance

What is the difference between potrace and VTracer?

potrace traces black and white, so Inkscape runs it once per color and stacks the results. VTracer reads color itself and stacks its shapes. Both draw every shape as a path.

  • Made by

    potrace
    Peter SelingerIts latest release is from 2019
    VTracer
    Vision CortexOpen source, on GitHub
    VecSnap
    Our own engineBuilt and trained in-house

  • License

    potrace
    GPL 2Free
    VTracer
    MITFree
    VecSnap
    Free to convertOne credit keeps an image

  • Color

    potrace
    One color per passInkscape runs a pass per color
    VTracer
    Every color in one passIts shapes stacked
    VecSnap
    Every color, groupedChange one, it changes everywhere

  • Circles

    potrace
    PathsA circle becomes many points
    VTracer
    PathsA circle becomes many points
    VecSnap
    Real circlesWhere the drawing has them

  • Text

    potrace
    Outlines of the pixels
    VTracer
    Outlines of the pixels
    VecSnap
    Set in its fontWhen the font is recognized

  • Runs

    potrace
    Command line, Inkscape
    VTracer
    Command line, Python, a web app
    VecSnap
    In the browser, and an API

  • Your image

    potrace
    Stays on your computer
    VTracer
    Stays on your computer
    VecSnap
    Never made publicThe copy we convert from is deleted after 7 days

The right tool

When is a free tracer the right choice?

When the image is black and white, when it must stay on your computer, or when you convert thousands in a script. For a logo or an icon you will open and edit, start from shapes.
  • potraceBlack and white, in bulk
    • Scans, signatures and line art
    • A script over a folder of files
    • Already inside Inkscape
  • VTracerColor, on your computer
    • Clean color art, saved without compression
    • Pixel art, in its pixel mode
    • Offline, from Python or the command line
  • VecSnapA file you will edit
    • Logos, icons, mascots and AI images
    • Circles, colors and words you can select
    • Every anchor point shown before you pay

Method

How was this measured?

The same input file went to all three tools. Each file was counted the way Illustrator and Figma count anchor points, and weighed as saved.

A row appears only when VecSnap's file matches the original at least as closely as both tracers' files. The figures are measured again with every VecSnap release; the tools, their settings and every figure are here, so you can run it yourself.

  1. The input: the file in the first column, in its own format, the same file for every tool.
  2. potrace traces one color at a time, so the image is first reduced to the colors its settings name (k), each traced in its own pass and stacked, as Inkscape's Trace Bitmap does in color.
  3. VecSnap: the Web file a customer downloads, at its defaults.
  4. Anchor points counted on the curve, as Illustrator and Figma show them, handles left out. File size: the bytes as saved.
  5. potrace 1.16 (GPL-2.0), at these settings:k 8quantizer FASTOCTREEturdsize 2alphamax 1opttolerance 0.2
  6. VTracer 0.6.15 (MIT), at these settings:colormode colorhierarchical stackedmode splinefilter_speckle 4color_precision 6layer_difference 16corner_threshold 60length_threshold 4max_iterations 10splice_threshold 45path_precision 3
Download every file's figures (JSON)

Questions

Open-source tracers, answered.

Sources

Yes. Inkscape has used potrace since version 0.40. In its color mode it traces once per color and stacks the results.

Trace Bitmap, step by step

Where next

Keep going

How to reduce anchor points

Why a traced SVG has thousands, what they cost, and how to keep only the few a shape needs.

Guide · 2 min read

Features

What VecSnap draws, each claim shown on a real file.

Features

PNG to SVG converter

Color and transparency kept, every edge drawn again as a curve.

From .png

Drop an image. Check the file.

Converting is free. You see the whole result before you spend anything.