DWG to DXF Converter
Rewrite an AutoCAD DWG as a DXF that laser software, CAM programs and non-Autodesk CAD can read. Pick the oldest AutoCAD version the receiving program understands, convert, and the layers, blocks and coordinates come across as they were drawn.
CAD Converter
or drop DWG, DXF, DWF … files here ·
Max 95 MB per file· Up to 20 files· Deleted after 30 minutes
Files are processed on our servers and deleted after 30 minutes.
Model space is the full drawing. All layouts exports each paper-space sheet as its own page, as set up in AutoCAD.
Fit to page scales the drawing to fill the sheet. Actual size keeps drawing units 1:1 (1 mm in the drawing = 1 mm on paper) and may span a larger page.
Same as source uses the size set in each layout. A1 and A0 are the usual plotter sheets for architectural drawings.
Auto turns the page to match the drawing's longer side.
Monochrome prints every line black, like plotting with a monochrome.ctb style — best for printed plans on white paper.
White suits printing. Black looks like the AutoCAD drawing area; transparent works for placing the drawing in other documents (not available in JPG).
300 DPI is print quality; 150 is enough for screens. At A1 and 600 DPI an image is 14,000 px wide, so higher values make very large files.
Only used when the input is a photo or scan (JPG, PNG). Outline draws the edges of shapes, good for logos and laser cutting; centreline draws single lines through strokes, good for scanned line drawings and plotters.
Pixels darker than this become lines. Raise it if faint lines are missing, lower it if background noise turns into shapes.
Higher values give fewer, smoother curves; lower values follow the pixels more closely but create more points.
How to use this tool
- 1
Upload the DWG drawings
Add up to 20 files of up to 95 MB each. Bind external references in AutoCAD first if the other program needs to see them.
- 2
Set the AutoCAD version
The page starts at AutoCAD 2007, which nearly every program from the last fifteen years opens. Pick Release 12 under AutoCAD version for a laser cutter, router or plasma table, or AutoCAD 2018 for a current CAD seat.
- 3
Convert to DXF
Press Convert to DXF and download each file, or a ZIP for a batch. Uploaded drawings are deleted after 30 minutes.
DWG is how AutoCAD stores a drawing; DXF is how AutoCAD explains that drawing to everyone else. Converting copies the same lines, layers and blocks into a format other programs are allowed to read.
Why a DWG file has to become a DXF
DWG is a binary format Autodesk has never published. Every non-Autodesk program that opens one relies on reverse engineering: the Open Design Alliance, founded in 1998 as the OpenDWG Alliance, licenses its DWG libraries to other CAD vendors, and the GNU project maintains LibreDWG as a free alternative. Small tools rarely license either.
DXF is the other half of the story. Autodesk released it with AutoCAD 1.0 in 1982 and still publishes the DXF Reference for each release. That is why LightBurn, Inkscape, SheetCam and most plasma and CNC controller software import DXF but refuse DWG.
Once you have the DXF, the same geometry can go further: DXF to PDF for a printable sheet, or DXF to SVG for a vinyl cutter or a web page.
Which DXF version to save: Release 12 to AutoCAD 2018
1982
DXF arrives with AutoCAD 1.0
A text dump of the drawing for other programs.
1992
Release 12 (AC1009)
Lines, arcs, circles, classic polylines. Safest for machine software.
1997
Release 14 (AC1014)
Adds the lightweight polyline, LWPOLYLINE.
2006
AutoCAD 2007 (AC1021)
Text switches to Unicode, so non-Latin layer names survive.
2017
AutoCAD 2018 (AC1032)
Still the format current releases write by default.
- $ACADVER code of a 2018-format file
- AC1032
- $ACADVER code of a Release 12 DXF
- AC1009
- DXF encodings: ASCII and binary
- 2
- AutoCAD versions you can choose
- 8
DWG
AutoCAD Drawing
DWG is the native file format of Autodesk AutoCAD, used since 1982. It stores 2D and 3D design data, including geometry, layers, dimensions, blocks and metadata, and is the standard for architecture, engineering and construction drawings. The format is proprietary and changes between AutoCAD versions, so older software may not open newer files. Viewing requires AutoCAD, a free viewer such as DWG TrueView, or a compatible CAD program.
- Compression
- –
- Transparency
- –
- Animation
- –
- Introduced
- 1982 · Autodesk
DXF
Drawing Exchange Format
DXF is a CAD data exchange format published by Autodesk in 1982. It describes drawing geometry and layers in a documented text (or binary) structure, so many programs that cannot read DWG can read DXF. It is widely used for laser cutters, CNC routers, plasma cutters and vinyl cutters. DXF files are larger than DWG and may lose some advanced features during exchange.
- Compression
- –
- Transparency
- –
- Animation
- –
- Introduced
- 1982 · Autodesk
People turn DWG into DXF when the next program in line, a laser cutter, a CAM package or a non-Autodesk CAD, cannot read Autodesk's closed binary format but does read its documented exchange format.
Layers, blocks and units after DWG to DXF
A DXF has sections: HEADER for settings, TABLES for layers, linetypes and text styles, BLOCKS for reusable symbols, and ENTITIES for the geometry. Conversion fills each one from the DWG, so a door block inserted forty times stays one definition with forty inserts. Coordinates are copied at full double precision.
Units are where receiving programs go wrong. DXF coordinates have no unit of their own; the $INSUNITS header variable records what the author meant (1 for inches, 4 for millimeters, 6 for meters), and many CAM tools ignore it and ask you instead. A part 25.4 times too large was read in the wrong unit, not converted wrongly.
Older versions simplify. Release 12 has no SPLINE or ELLIPSE entity, so curves are written as polylines that approximate them, and it has no lightweight polylines. Pick a newer version whenever the receiving program supports it.
MythDXF is an open standard.
FactIt is documented, which is what matters for compatibility, but Autodesk owns it and changes it with new releases.
MythThe newest DXF version is always the best choice.
FactA version the receiving program cannot parse is useless. Match the oldest program that has to open the file.
MythConverting to DXF changes the drawing's size.
FactCoordinates are copied as they are. Size problems come from the importing program guessing the unit.
DWG to DXF questions
Which DXF version should I send to a laser shop or a plasma table?
Release 12 unless the shop says otherwise. Machine software is often written against the oldest, simplest DXF, and R12 has no splines or lightweight polylines to trip over. If the shop runs current CAD as well, AutoCAD 2007 or later keeps more of the drawing intact.
Why is the DXF so much larger than the DWG?
An ASCII DXF writes every coordinate as a line of text behind a numeric group code, while DWG stores the same values in compact binary. Several times the size is normal and costs nothing in accuracy.
What happens to Civil 3D or AutoCAD Architecture objects?
Walls, doors, surfaces and alignments are custom objects that only their own application understands. In a DXF they arrive as proxy graphics or are left out. Run Export to AutoCAD in the vertical product first, which explodes them into plain lines, polylines and blocks, then convert that file.
Do layer names, colors and linetypes carry over?
Yes. Layers, their on/off and frozen state, ACI colors, linetypes and block definitions are part of the DXF tables section, so they survive in every version. Release 12 limits layer and block names to 31 characters and a basic character set, so long or accented names may be shortened.
Can I turn the DXF back into a DWG later?
Yes, choose DWG as the output on the CAD converter and select the AutoCAD version you need. A round trip through Release 12 is not lossless, though: anything R12 had to simplify, such as splines, stays simplified.
- DXF to PDF ConverterConvert DXF files from AutoCAD, LightBurn, SolidWorks or CAM software to vector PDF. Fit to A4 or print 1:1 using the drawing's units. 20 files per batch.
- DWG to PDF ConverterConvert AutoCAD DWG to PDF online without AutoCAD. Export every layout as a page at its true scale, keep line weights or print monochrome. 20 files at once.
- DWG to PNG ConverterConvert AutoCAD DWG layouts to PNG images with black lines, real line weights and a white background at 200 DPI, or any resolution from 72 to 1200 DPI.
- DXF to SVG ConverterConvert DXF drawings to SVG at actual size with layer colors kept and thin strokes, for Glowforge, LightBurn, Cricut, Inkscape or a web page. 20 files at once.
- SVG to DXF ConverterConvert SVG artwork from Inkscape, Illustrator or Figma into DXF for AutoCAD, Fusion, LightBurn or a CNC router. Paths stay vector; pick R12 to 2018.
- DXF to PNG ConverterRender DXF cut files and drawings as PNG previews for listings, quotes and catalogs. Fitted to the frame at 150 DPI on white; 72 to 1200 DPI available.