Image to DWG
Turn a scan, logo or line drawing into a DWG you can open in AutoCAD. Set the black-and-white threshold, check the outline in the preview, then convert.
From scan to DWG: the three steps behind the button
The conversion is a chain of three honest steps, and knowing them helps you get a better result. First your image is reduced to pure black and white with the threshold slider — every pixel becomes either ink or paper, and the preview shows you exactly which. Then the black shapes are traced into vector outlines: smooth curves that follow the edges of every filled area. Finally those outlines are written out as a DWG file. One consequence worth knowing in advance: the trace follows the edges of black areas, so a thin pencil line becomes a narrow closed loop — two edges with a sliver of space between them — rather than a single centre line. For logos, floor plans and silhouettes that is exactly what you want; if you need centre lines for engraving, expect a little cleanup in CAD afterwards.
Only a small black-and-white bitmap leaves your device
Although the DWG itself is written on our EU server, your actual image never travels there. The photo or scan is loaded, scaled and thresholded entirely in your browser; what gets sent is only the compact one-bit black-and-white bitmap you see in the preview — no colours, no camera metadata, no original file. The working image is capped at 2000 pixels on its longest side, which keeps the trace fast and is plenty of detail for a clean line drawing. Because the tracing and DWG-writing do run on our server, the free tier covers two conversions per day; a day pass, credits or a CAD plan lift that limit.
Getting real dimensions, and a cleaner trace
The traced drawing arrives in pixel proportions, not millimetres, so make scaling the first thing you do in CAD: find one feature whose real size you know — a wall, a hole spacing, a border — and scale the whole drawing until that feature measures correctly. Everything else falls into place, because the proportions within the image are preserved faithfully. And remember that the quality of the DWG is largely decided before you ever press the button: even lighting, straight paper and dark ink matter more than any slider. If your scan has a murky or uneven background, run it through our free Image transparency tool first and remove the background colour — a clean white page gives the threshold step far less to fight with, and the trace comes out noticeably crisper.
What this does — an honest answer
This traces the black shapes in your image into vector outlines (potrace) and then writes them as a DWG (LibreDWG) — two free, open-source tools chained together. It gives you clean outlines of solid black areas, not a photo-to-CAD miracle: there are no real dimensions (rescale in CAD), and fine detail or anti-aliased edges get simplified. The DWG-writing step uses LibreDWG, so if you need maximum compatibility, Image to DXF plus a manual open in your CAD app is the safest route.
Will it keep my exact sizes?
No — the outline is traced in pixels, so you'll need to set the real scale once in your CAD program. Draw or measure one known dimension and scale the whole drawing to match.
What kind of image works best?
High-contrast black-on-white line art, logos and clean scans. Use the threshold slider (and Invert if your lines are light on dark) until the preview shows crisp black shapes. Photographs and gradients don't vectorize well.
Why DWG and not DXF?
If your workflow needs DWG specifically, this saves a step. If you're unsure, Image to DXF is the more universally compatible choice — DWG is Autodesk's proprietary format and our free DWG writer is best on straightforward drawings.
