Guide · 5 min read

An SVG for laser cutting, engraved once.

How to make an SVG for laser cutting from a picture: a layer for each color, every area engraved once, and the file LightBurn, xTool or Glowforge wants.

A round coaster mark: a deep green ring, a cream band, an amber disc and a green pint glass with a cream foam head, on a transparent background
The PNG as uploaded2,526 KBVecSnap's SVG1.0 KB41 anchor points

An SVG for laser cutting is a drawing of closed shapes that your laser app reads as cut, score or engrave paths, a layer for each color. A traced picture usually stacks its shapes, one on another: where they overlap, a laser that engraves each color as its own layer burns twice, or leaves a hole within one layer. To make one, convert the picture and download VecSnap's cut-ready SVG, where every area is one piece, then import it in LightBurn, xTool Creative Space or the Glowforge app.

Updated 9 sources ↓

Make one

How do I make an SVG for laser cutting from a picture?

Convert the picture to an SVG of flat colors and download it for a cutting machine: the cut-ready file, each color in closed pieces with nothing stacked. Import it in your laser app and set each color to cut, score or engrave.

Drop your picture. Get its SVG.

  1. Drop the picture: a logo, a sign, a design of a few colors.
  2. VecSnap redraws it as shapes and cuts them apart, so no shape sits on another.
  3. Download it for a cutting machine. In LightBurn, choose File, then Import.

Engraved twice

Why does my laser engrave some areas twice, or leave holes?

Because a traced SVG stacks its shapes, VecSnap's Design file too: a shape runs on under the ones painted over it. LightBurn fills each layer on its own, so where shapes of two colors overlap it engraves twice, and where two shapes of one layer overlap it leaves the overlap blank. The cut-ready file makes every area one piece.
See the burn
A craft brewery's coaster mark: its Design file, as a laser burns itDesign filestacked
75%of the drawing burned twice

A layer for each color burns 138% more area than the drawing has.

A craft brewery's coaster mark: its cut-ready file, as a laser burns itCut-readynothing stacked
0%of the drawing burned twice

Every area one piece: each color engraves once.

Each file is drawn with every shape at half strength, as a laser engraving each color on its own layer burns it: where two shapes sit on each other, the burn is darker. The shares are measured on the files.

Your laser app

How do LightBurn, xTool and Glowforge read an SVG?

By its colors and shapes: you choose cut, score or engrave in the app, by layer, by step or by what you select. None of them takes that choice from the file.

  • LightBurn

    Opens
    SVG, DXF, AI, PDF and pictures
    Where you choose cut, score or engrave
    On each layer: it matches each color of the file to a layer of its palette

  • xTool Creative Space

    Opens
    SVG and DXF, and pictures; no text inside an SVG
    Where you choose cut, score or engrave
    On what you select

  • Glowforge app

    Opens
    SVG or PDF to cut and engrave, a picture only to engrave; DXF for Premium members
    Where you choose cut, score or engrave
    On each step: every color of the file is a step

Which file

Which file for which laser project?

The cut-ready SVG for most laser work, the Design file when layers are glued one on another, and the DXF for a CNC or a CAD program.

  • Engraved in one piece of woodCut-ready SVG

    What you get
    Every area one piece, so each color engraves once.

  • Pieces side by side, an inlayCut-ready SVG

    What you get
    Each piece apart, nothing under it.

  • Layers glued one on anotherDesign file

    What you get
    Each color whole, a layer to cut and stack.

  • A CNC or CAD programDXF

    What you get
    The same pieces as a DXF, in millimeters or inches.

One credit keeps all of them.

Anchor points

Why do anchor points matter to a laser?

Every anchor point is a turn the laser head follows. A traced file can hold thousands along its edges, and the head slows at each one; drawn again as shapes, the drawing keeps a few.
potrace
7,570anchor points in the whole file
VecSnap
41anchor points in the whole file

Questions

SVG for laser cutting, answered.

Sources

Yes: LightBurn, xTool Creative Space and the Glowforge app read an SVG's closed shapes as paths to cut, score or engrave. The exception is a picture saved as an SVG: it holds pixels, which a laser can only engrave.

A real SVG from a PNG

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Drop an image. Check the file.

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