pngtrace

About pngtrace

What is pngtrace?

pngtrace is a privacy-first tool that converts raster images (PNG, JPEG, WebP) into scalable vector graphics (SVG). Unlike traditional online converters, pngtrace runs entirely in your browser—your images never leave your device.

How It Works

When you drop an image into pngtrace, the following happens entirely on your device:

  1. Your image is decoded and processed in a Web Worker (background thread)
  2. The pixel data is passed to our WebAssembly (WASM) engine
  3. The vtracer algorithm traces the image and generates SVG paths
  4. The resulting SVG is displayed for preview and download

This entire process takes milliseconds, even for large images.

Technology Stack

  • vtracer — A Rust-based vectorization library compiled to WebAssembly. Created by Vision Cortex.
  • WebAssembly (WASM) — Enables near-native performance in the browser.
  • Next.js — React framework for the web application.
  • Web Workers — Keeps the UI responsive by processing images off the main thread.

Roadmap

pngtrace is under active development. Future plans include:

  • AI-powered upscaling for low-resolution images
  • Batch processing for multiple files
  • Additional export formats (DXF, EPS)
  • Cloud sync and history (optional, with user accounts)

Open Source

The vectorization engine (vtracer) is open source and available on GitHub. We're grateful to the Vision Cortex team for making this technology freely available.