What is a .svg file?
An SVG file is an XML vector graphic standardised by the W3C. It stores paths, shapes and text in user units, with an optional physical width and height in millimetres, inches or other lengths.
Open your .svg file here
View layers, measure, set units and resize, then export. Your file stays in your browser.
Capabilities
Each row carries its source and the date it was checked.
| Property | Value | Source · retrieved |
|---|---|---|
| Stores units | yes, when the file says soOnly when the root carries a width or height with a real unit. A bare viewBox is unitless. | W3C · 2026-09-06 |
| Stores layers | no, groups are the nearest thing | W3C · 2026-09-06 |
| Geometry kind | 2D outlines: lines, arcs and curves | W3C · 2026-09-06 |
| Binary or text | text, XML | W3C · 2026-09-06 |
| Extensions | .svg | W3C · 2026-09-06 |
| MIME type | image/svg+xml | W3C · 2026-09-06 |
| Opens here | in the drawing workspace, in your browser | W3C · 2026-09-06 |
What an SVG actually is
An SVG file is XML. Open one in a text editor and you can read it: a path element with a d attribute full of coordinates, a circle with a centre and a radius, groups that carry transforms. Because it is text and it is a W3C standard, every modern browser draws it natively and any program can be taught to read it.
That is its strength over a PNG or a JPEG. The shapes are described rather than sampled, so an SVG stays crisp whether it is a favicon or a wall panel.
The size question
This is the part that catches people out when the destination is a cutter.
The root element can carry a width and a height, and those may have real units: 210mm, 8.5in, 72pt. If they do, the file states a physical size and a machine can honour it.
They may also be bare numbers, or absent entirely with only a viewBox. Then the file describes shape and proportion but not size, and by CSS convention a user unit is a pixel at 96 to the inch. That is a display convention, not a measurement, so a drawing that looks right on screen can arrive at a laser as something quite different. If a cut comes out the wrong size, this is nearly always why.
Fills, strokes and what a cutter sees
An SVG is drawn to be looked at, so it is built from fills and strokes. A cutter follows paths and does not care about either. A shape drawn as a 2 mm wide stroke has no area of its own; it is a line with a paint width. Ask software to cut it and you may get one pass along the middle, or two passes along the edges of the stroke, depending on what the software decided.
Converting strokes to outlines before exporting removes the ambiguity, and every vector editor has that command.
Text is a trap worth knowing
Text stays text in an SVG, and it references a font by name. If the machine opening the file does not have that font, it substitutes another one and your lettering changes shape and width. Converting text to paths before export freezes the letterforms into geometry that cannot shift.
What else lives in the file
Gradients, filters, clipping paths, masks, embedded images and stylesheets are all legal SVG and all describe appearance rather than geometry. Software that cuts, engraves or extrudes generally ignores them or refuses the file, and either way the result will not match what you saw on screen. A plain SVG of filled, closed paths is the thing to export when the destination is a machine.
What opens a .svg file
Free tools are listed first. Every row carries the vendor page that states it.
| Application | Opens | Saves | Platforms | Free | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This site's drawing workspacein-browser, nothing uploaded | ✓ | ✓ | any browser | yes | open it → |
| BlenderBuilt into Blender core (Grease Pencil module, not a separate add-on): File > Import > SVG as Grease Pencil, and File > Export > Grease Pencil as SVG. | ✓ | ✓ | windows · macos · linux | yes | docs · 2026-09-07 |
| Carbide CreateFree edition exists (Pro adds features). SVG both opens and exports via a dedicated Export SVG command. | ✓ | ✓ | windows · macos | yes | docs · 2026-09-07 |
| Cricut Design SpaceSVG upload works on all platforms (unlike DXF, which is desktop-only); Design Space provides no save-out/export of design files. | ✓ | — | windows · macos · web | yes | docs · 2026-09-07 |
| Easel (Inventables)Free to use (tied to Inventables/X-Carve hardware). SVG import is covered in the File Import Guide; export is documented in a separate 'Export SVG... | ✓ | ✓ | web | yes | docs · 2026-09-07 |
| FigmaImport/export is copy-paste based ('Copy as SVG' from another tool, or paste SVG/SVG code onto the canvas), not a classic File > Open dialog. Avail... | ✓ | ✓ | web | yes | docs · 2026-09-07 |
| FreeCADDraft Workbench's Draft SVG function reads and writes SVG; TechDraw can separately export drawing pages as SVG. | ✓ | ✓ | windows · macos · linux | yes | docs · 2026-09-07 |
| GIMPOlder/base import only converts SVG into GIMP paths (or rasterizes it as an image, per the Paths dialog docs). A full vector+raster 'Export Image a... | ✓ | ✓ | windows · macos · linux | yes | docs · 2026-09-07 |
| InkscapeSVG is Inkscape's native format; Save As offers Inkscape SVG, Plain SVG, Optimized SVG, and compressed .svgz variants. | ✓ | ✓ | windows · macos · linux | yes | docs · 2026-09-07 |
| KritaFull SVG import and per-layer SVG export added in Krita 4.0; versions 2.9-3.3 could only import SVG via the add-shape docker. | ✓ | ✓ | windows · macos · linux | yes | docs · 2026-09-07 |
| Web browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox)SVG is XML-based and rendered natively by any modern browser as a W3C web standard; 'save' isn't applicable in the editing sense - browsers display... | ✓ | — | windows · macos · linux · web | yes | docs · 2026-09-07 |
| xTool Creative SpaceFree software. SVG is both an import format and the only vector export format offered (besides the native .xcs project file). | ✓ | ✓ | windows · macos | yes | docs · 2026-09-07 |
| Adobe IllustratorSVG is one of Illustrator's native Save formats (alongside AI/PDF/EPS/FXG) and is also a listed Export format. | ✓ | ✓ | windows · macos | paid | docs · 2026-09-07 |
| Affinity DesignerSVG is listed with both Open/Import and Export support in Affinity's official file-format table. | ✓ | ✓ | windows · macos · web | paid | docs · 2026-09-07 |
| Autodesk FusionSVG imports as fixed sketch geometry via Insert SVG (for tracing/engraving/3D extrusion). The fetched Autodesk articles document import only; no SV... | ✓ | — | windows · macos · web | paid | docs · 2026-09-07 |
| CorelDRAWSVG both opens (File > Open/Import) and exports, with Unicode text, embedding/linking, and SVG-color-palette options. | ✓ | ✓ | windows · macos | paid | docs · 2026-09-07 |
| GlowforgeSVG is a core format on every Glowforge plan (unlike DXF, which needs Premium). Glowforge has no general export/save-out feature - it is a print/cu... | ✓ | — | web | paid | docs · 2026-09-07 |
| LightBurnSVG is LightBurn's primary interchange format for both import and export. | ✓ | ✓ | windows · macos · linux | paid | docs · 2026-09-07 |
| Silhouette StudioSVG import requires the paid Designer Edition (not available in the free Basic Edition); SVG export requires the paid Business Edition and is autom... | ✓ | ✓ | windows · macos | paid | docs · 2026-09-07 |
| SketchDrag-and-drop SVG file import or pasting raw SVG code; SVG export via slices/export presets and the Developer Handoff web view. | ✓ | ✓ | macos | paid | docs · 2026-09-07 |