Turn any photo or illustration into clean, scalable vector art. On your device, in seconds.
Re:Trace is a free, open-source desktop app for macOS, Windows, and Linux that converts raster images (JPG, PNG, etc.) into SVG vector files. No subscription. No cloud upload. No watermarks. Your files never leave your machine.
Most vector conversion tools are either expensive SaaS products, clunky web apps, or buried inside a full design suite you don't need. Re:Trace does one thing and does it well: take a pixel image, give you back a vector.
It's fast enough for quick one-offs and powerful enough for batch creative work.
- Instant tracing: drop in an image and get an SVG back in under a second
- Multiple backends: choose between a fast geometric tracer for logos and icons, a layered artistic tracer for illustrations, or AI-powered tracing for complex scenes
- Live preview: see the vector output update in real time as you adjust settings
- Export anywhere: save as SVG, EPS, or Adobe Illustrator-compatible AI files
- Runs locally: no account required, no data sent anywhere, works offline
- Designers who need to vectorize logos, icons, or hand-drawn sketches without leaving their workflow
- Illustrators who want to convert scanned artwork into clean, editable paths
- Developers who need programmatic-quality SVG output without a SaaS dependency
- Anyone who's ever pasted a PNG into Illustrator and waited for Live Trace to disappoint them
Grab the latest release for your platform from the Releases page.
No installer wizard, no sign-up flow. Download, open, trace.
Out of the box, Re:Trace uses a fast geometric tracer that works great for logos, icons, and line art with no setup required.
For more artistic or complex images, Re:Trace also includes two optional enhanced backends:
- LIVE: a layered colour-decomposition tracer that produces painterly, illustrative results
- StarVector: an AI model that understands image content and produces semantically structured SVG
Enhanced backends require a one-time setup (downloading a Python environment and, for StarVector, model weights). Everything is managed inside the app under Settings > Enhanced Backends.
Re:Trace is released under the Mozilla Public License 2.0. You can use it, modify it, and redistribute it. If you make changes to the Re:Trace source files, those changes must remain open source, but you can use Re:Trace alongside proprietary code in your own projects.
Contributions welcome. See Issues for what's being worked on.
Built by BOC Engineering