Free, open-source bitmap-to-vector tracer. Vector Free turns raster images — PNG, JPG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, WebP — into clean, scalable vector art you can print at any size, cut on a plotter, embroider, engrave or edit in Illustrator, Inkscape, CorelDRAW or a CAD program.
It works fully automatically in one click, or guides you step by step with a wizard and lets you fix the result by hand. It runs entirely on your computer: no uploads, no account, no watermark.
⬇ Download the latest release · Windows 10/11 · installer with automatic updates, or portable · Changelog
- What is it for?
- Features
- Getting started
- Using the wizard
- Editing the result
- Exporting
- Batch processing
- Command-line tool
- Keyboard shortcuts
- How it works
- Building from source
- Project layout
- Known limitations and roadmap
- Contributing
- Acknowledgements
- License
A bitmap is a grid of pixels: enlarge it and it gets blurry and jagged. A vector image describes shapes with mathematical curves, so it stays perfectly sharp at any size and every shape can be edited separately.
Typical uses:
- Logos that only exist as a small JPG or a screenshot, rebuilt for print, signage or a website.
- Cutting and engraving: vinyl cutters, laser cutters and CNC machines need vector outlines (DXF, SVG, AI, EPS).
- Embroidery and screen printing: flat color areas with clean edges.
- Scanned drawings, signatures and stamps, turned into crisp line art.
- Illustration styles: turning a photo into a poster-like, flat-colored drawing.
- Fully automatic mode – detects the image type, quality and colors by itself.
- Clean Lines mode – fully automatic, and straight stretches of curved outlines (a side running into a rounded corner, the stem of a letter) become true straight lines that the curves join smoothly. Best for logos and lettering.
- Three image types – photograph, artwork with blended (anti-aliased) edges, artwork without blending (pixel art).
- Quality / detail level – how clean the source is (artwork) or how much detail you want (photos).
- Smart palettes – automatic, two colors, custom or unlimited; suggested palettes from 2 to 40 colors; eyedropper with color blending; per-color opacity.
- Sub-pixel accuracy – anti-aliased edge pixels are used to locate the true edge between pixels, so curves are smooth and faithful even on small images.
- Clean geometry – neighbouring shapes share exactly the same boundary (no gaps, no overlaps); sharp corners stay sharp; small circles stay round.
- Advanced controls – complexity, minimum region size, anti-aliasing artifact rejection, noise filter, smoothness, corner detection, number of nodes, lines-only output.
- Segmentation editor – Pencil, Fill, Zap and Color tools with undo, redo and revert.
- Problem finder – highlights pinch points that can break thin shapes.
- Remove background – click shapes (or a whole color) to drop them from the result; click again to restore.
- Views – bitmap, segments, vector, paths with nodes, and side by side.
- Crop – trace only part of a large image.
- Vector: SVG, PDF, EPS, AI (Illustrator 3), DXF (R12 polylines or DXF 2000 splines).
- Bitmap: PNG, GIF, JPEG, BMP, TIFF at any scale.
- Layouts: stacked shapes, cut-outs, or cut-outs grouped by color; optional stroking to hide hairline gaps on screen.
- Copy SVG to the clipboard, Quick Save next to the original, or open the result straight in the program associated with the file type.
- Batch processing with automatic type detection for every image.
- Recent images and folders, recent and saved settings.
- Paste images from the clipboard, drag and drop files onto the window or onto the program icon.
- Contextual help on every page (F1).
- Download
VectorFree-x.y.z-windows-x64-portable.zipfrom the releases page and unzip it anywhere (a USB stick works too). - Run
VectorFree.exe. It needs Microsoft Edge WebView2, which is already part of Windows 10 and 11. - Load an image (Import from Folder, Ctrl+V to paste, or drag a file onto the window), choose Fully Automatic and click Next.
The executables are not code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen may warn the first time. Choose More info → Run anyway.
The window has the image on the left and the wizard on the right. Start Page, Back and Next move between pages, and Help explains the current page.
| Mode | What it does |
|---|---|
| Fully Automatic | One click: Vector Free answers every question itself. You can still improve the result afterwards. |
| Clean Lines | Like Fully Automatic, but straight edges stay perfectly straight instead of being traced as slightly wavy curves. Best for logos, lettering and geometric artwork. |
| Basic | A few multiple-choice questions. Best for most images. |
| Advanced | Direct control over segmentation and path smoothing. |
- Image Type – Photograph, Artwork with Blended Edges (anti-aliased, the most common) or Artwork without Blended Edges (hard pixel steps). The recommended answer is marked.
- Input Quality (artwork) – High for sharp, clean images; Medium for some compression artifacts; Low for blurry or noisy images. Detail Level (photos) – Low gives a simplified, cartoon-like look; High stays close to the photo.
- Color Mode – Two Colors, Custom Colors (recommended for logos with up to ~12 colors) or Unlimited Colors (gradients and photos).
- Palette Selection – pick one of the suggested palettes (the recommended one is marked ▶▶), or build your own: select a swatch and click in the image to take that color; Ctrl-click blends colors.
Flip between Bitmap (B) and Vector (V), zoom with the mouse wheel, and tick Paths to see every outline and node. From here you can change the Detail Level or Colors, Remove Background, Edit Result or go back with Hand-pick Settings.
| Page | Settings |
|---|---|
| Image Segmentation | Complexity (fewer ↔ more segments), Minimum Number of Pixels, Anti-Aliasing Artifact Rejection (None / Moderate / Aggressive), Noise Filter, Auto-Update |
| Edit Segmentation | The hand-editing tools described below |
| Path Smoothing | Smoothness, Detect Sharp Corners, Anti-Aliasing Engine, Number of Nodes, Curve Types (curves or lines only), Auto-Update |
| Remove Background | Shape-by-shape removal |
Vector Free first splits the image into flat-colored regions (the segmentation), then smooths those regions into curves. When the automatic segmentation gets something wrong, fix it on the Edit Segmentation page:
| Tool | Key | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Undo / Redo / Revert | Z / Y / T | Step through or discard edits |
| Pan | A | Move the view (or hold Shift with any tool) |
| Zap | D | Drag to dissolve pixels into the neighbouring regions; click to dissolve a whole region. Removes anti-aliasing slivers and cuts unwanted bridges. |
| Fill | F | Give a whole region the current color |
| Pencil | X | Paint pixels with the current color (brush size slider) |
| Color | C | Click a region to make its color the current color |
Problem Finder marks pinch points — places where a region is connected only diagonally, which often breaks or bridges shapes. Visit them with ◀ ▶ and fix them with the Pencil.
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Save As (Ctrl+S) | Choose the file type in the dialog: SVG, PDF, EPS, AI, DXF, PNG, GIF, JPEG, BMP or TIFF. |
| Open in Another Program | Saves a temporary copy and opens it in the program associated with that type. |
| Copy SVG | Puts the SVG markup on the clipboard (paste into Inkscape, Illustrator, Figma…). |
| Quick Save | Saves next to the original image with the same name. |
| Bitmap Export | Renders the vectors to a bitmap at any scale. |
| Shape mode | Stack shapes (easiest to edit), cut-outs, or cut-outs grouped by color. |
| Stroking mode | Stroke shape boundaries to hide the hairline gaps some viewers draw between shapes. |
| DXF mode | Lines and spline curves (DXF 2000), or lines only with fewer or more lines (DXF R12, the most compatible). |
| Save Settings | Store the current settings under a name to reuse them later. |
Choose Batch Processing on the start page (or drop several files onto the window), add the images, then pick:
- Settings – Fully automatic (each image is analysed separately), Clean lines (the same, with straight edges kept straight) or the current settings.
- Formats – any combination of SVG, PDF, EPS, AI, DXF and PNG.
- Output folder – next to each image, or a folder of your choice.
Press Start; Stop finishes the current image and stops.
vectorfree-cli.exe traces images without opening the app — handy for scripts and large folders. It is included in the portable zip; the command-line guide explains how to install it so it works from any folder (one PowerShell block, or a manual install, or cargo install from source) and describes every option with recipes.
vectorfree-cli logo.png -f svg,pdf
vectorfree-cli C:\images -o C:\output -f svg,dxf --dxf-splines
vectorfree-cli scan.jpg -t blended -q low --remove-bg -f eps
vectorfree-cli photo.jpg -t photo -q high -f svg| Option | Meaning |
|---|---|
-o, --out <DIR> |
Output folder (default: next to each input) |
-f, --format <LIST> |
svg,eps,pdf,ai,dxf,png,gif,jpg,bmp,tif |
-t, --type <KIND> |
auto, photo, blended, flat (default auto) |
-q, --quality <Q> |
low, medium, high |
-c, --colors <N> |
Number of colors (default automatic) |
-p, --palette <LIST> |
Fixed palette, e.g. "#ffffff,#1404ab" |
--remove-bg |
Make the border color transparent |
--layout <L> |
cutout or stacked |
--stroke |
Stroke shapes with their fill color |
--no-group |
One path per shape instead of per color |
--scale <X> |
Scale for bitmap outputs |
--dxf-splines |
DXF 2000 with splines instead of R12 polylines |
--lines |
Straight segments only |
--clean-lines |
Keep straight stretches of curved outlines as true lines (Clean Lines mode) |
--tolerance, --smoothing, --corner, --min-area |
Fine-tuning |
--denoise / --no-denoise |
Force the noise filter on or off |
-V, --version |
Show the version |
Folders are processed in alphabetical order; the exit code is non-zero if any image failed. The tool never replaces a source image (for PNG output next to a PNG, use --out).
| Keys | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl+O / Ctrl+V / Ctrl+S | Open / paste / save as |
| Enter / Backspace | Next / previous page |
| B / S / V / P | Bitmap / segments / vector view / toggle paths |
| 0 / 1 / + / − | Fit / actual size / zoom in / zoom out (or mouse wheel) |
| Z / Y / T | Undo / redo / revert (editing pages) |
| A / D / F / X / C | Pan / zap or erase / fill / pencil / color (editing pages) |
| Shift (hold) | Pan with any tool |
| F1 | Help |
- Palette – colors are clustered in the perceptual CIE Lab color space (weighted k-means over a color histogram). For artwork, colors are added until every pixel is explained either by a palette color or as an anti-aliasing blend of two of them, so a small but distinct shape is never lost. For photos, colors are added until the average color error meets the requested detail level.
- Segmentation – each pixel is assigned to a palette color (blend pixels go to the closer of the two colors they mix), thin anti-aliasing fringes are filtered, and regions smaller than a threshold are merged. Small images are supersampled first.
- Boundary graph – region borders are traced along the pixel grid and split into chains between junctions. Each chain separates exactly two regions, so both neighbours use the very same curve.
- Sub-pixel edges – every boundary point is moved to where the original image mixes the two neighbouring colors 50/50 (for transparent edges, where alpha is 50%). This inverts the anti-aliasing and recovers the real edge position, the key idea of Diebel's thesis below.
- Fitting – corners are detected on the pixel grid and rebuilt as sharp intersections of the adjoining straight edges; the rest is smoothed (Taubin smoothing, which does not shrink shapes) and fitted with cubic Bézier curves using Schneider's least-squares algorithm.
- Export – shapes are written as compound paths in the chosen format and layout.
Requirements:
- Rust (stable)
- Node.js 18 or newer (only for the Tauri CLI)
- Tauri prerequisites for your platform — on Windows: Visual Studio C++ Build Tools and WebView2 (details)
git clone https://github.com/zavants/VectorFree.git
cd VectorFree
# run the engine tests
cargo test -p vectorfree-engine
# build the command-line tool -> target/release/vectorfree-cli(.exe)
cargo build --release -p vectorfree-cli
# build the desktop app -> target/release/VectorFree(.exe)
cd app
npm install
npx tauri build --no-bundleFor development, npx tauri dev (inside app/) runs the app with live-reloaded UI.
engine/ Tracing library (no UI)
src/palette.rs color clustering, suggested palettes, image-type detection
src/segment.rs label map and editing operations (pencil, fill, zap, erase…)
src/trace.rs boundary graph and shape assembly
src/snap.rs sub-pixel edge recovery from anti-aliasing
src/fit.rs corners, smoothing, Bézier fitting
src/export/ SVG, PDF, EPS/AI, DXF and bitmap writers
tests/ end-to-end tests
cli/ Command-line front end
tests/ end-to-end tests of the command-line tool
app/ Desktop app (Tauri)
src-tauri/ Rust commands exposed to the UI
ui/ HTML, CSS and JavaScript of the wizard
docs/CLI.md Command-line guide: installation, options, recipes
docs/screenshots/ Images used in this README
- Windows builds only so far; the code is cross-platform but Linux and macOS builds are untested.
- DXF 2000 splines, AI and EPS output have not yet been validated in AutoCAD, Illustrator or CorelDRAW. DXF lines only (R12) is the safest choice for CAD/CAM.
- The interface is in English only.
- Executables are not code-signed.
Ideas for later: Linux/macOS builds, more languages, centerline (single-stroke) tracing for line art, and drag-and-drop of the result into other programs.
Bug reports and pull requests are welcome. When reporting a tracing problem, attach the input image (if you can share it) and the settings you used. Please run cargo test -p vectorfree-engine before sending changes to the engine.
- zavants – creator and maintainer.
- Claude (Anthropic) – collaborator: designed and wrote much of the engine, app and documentation together with zavants, as AI pair programmer. Commits it helped with carry a
Co-Authored-By: Claudetrailer.
- J. Diebel, Bayesian Image Vectorization: the probabilistic inversion of vector image rasterization, PhD thesis, Stanford University, 2008 — the idea of using anti-aliasing to recover edge positions.
- P. J. Schneider, An Algorithm for Automatically Fitting Digitized Curves, Graphics Gems, 1990.
- G. Taubin, A signal processing approach to fair surface design, SIGGRAPH 1995 — shrink-free smoothing.
- Built with Rust, Tauri, image and tiny-skia.
Vector Free's wizard follows the workflow and option names that users of commercial tracers such as Vector Magic are used to, so they can find their way without a manual. Vector Free is an independent project: it contains no code, artwork or text from other products and is not affiliated with them.
Licensed under either of
- Apache License, Version 2.0 (LICENSE-APACHE)
- MIT license (LICENSE-MIT)
at your option. Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution you submit for inclusion is dual-licensed as above, without additional terms.