PDF to DXF Converter

Turn the lines of a PDF drawing into a DXF file for CAD, laser cutting or CNC, without uploading the PDF. Each page you choose becomes its own DXF at the size it prints, in millimetres or inches, so a 100 mm line in the PDF measures 100 mm in your CAD program. For a plan drawn to scale, pick the scale, such as 1:50 or 1:100, and the DXF measures in real-world units. Lines, curves and shape outlines become POLYLINE entities, text stays editable as DXF text, and each colour gets its own layer. The tool reads every DXF back before you download it and shows how many lines and texts it holds and how big the drawing is. Pages that are only scans are flagged honestly, because a picture has no lines to convert. Your PDF never leaves your device.

100% private — everything runs in your browser. Your PDF is read and turned into DXF files on your device; nothing is uploaded or stored.

How to convert a PDF to DXF

1. Drop your PDF on the box, or click Try a sample.
2. Keep all pages, or type a range such as 1-3, 5, and click Convert these pages.
3. Choose the drawing scale and units, and whether to keep the text.
4. Check the DXF preview and the line under it, then click Download this page or Download all pages.

What you can use it for

• Bring a PDF floor plan or part drawing into CAD at its real size
• Get cutting lines for a laser cutter or CNC router from a PDF pattern
• Reuse the outline of a logo supplied only as a PDF
• Measure a scaled PDF plan in real-world units
• Split a multi-page PDF of drawings into one DXF per sheet
• Check which pages of a PDF hold real lines and which are scans

What goes into the DXF

In the PDF page	In the DXF	Note
Lines and curves	POLYLINE entities, curves as short segments	Accuracy 0.01 to 0.25 mm, your choice
Filled shapes	Their outlines, closed	Ready for cutting
Text	TEXT entities at each run’s place and size	Or left out
Colours	One layer per colour	Or everything on layer 0
White page backgrounds	Left out	Can be kept
Pictures and scans	Left out, and flagged	Trace them with JPG to DXF
Line widths, fills, gradients	Not part of a DXF outline	Listed per page

DXF (Drawing Exchange Format) is the plain-text drawing format that almost every CAD, laser and CNC program reads. The files made here are AutoCAD R12 DXF, the oldest and most widely read version: lines and curves as POLYLINE outlines, text as TEXT, each colour on its own layer, and the units written in the file.

Scale and units

Page	Size in points	In the DXF at 1:1	At 1:50
A4	595.28 × 841.89 pt	210.0 × 297.0 mm	10.50 × 14.85 m
A3	841.89 × 1190.55 pt	297.0 × 420.0 mm	14.85 × 21.00 m
US Letter	612 × 792 pt	215.9 × 279.4 mm	10.79 × 13.97 m
Tabloid (11 × 17 in)	792 × 1224 pt	279.4 × 431.8 mm	13.97 × 21.59 m

Millimetres = points × 25.4 ÷ 72, then times the scale. The DXF origin is the bottom-left corner of the page, as in the PDF, so several pages line up when you place them in one drawing.

Want to look at the result first? Open it in the DXF Viewer. For an SVG drawing, use SVG to DXF; for a picture, PNG to DXF. To take a few pages out of the PDF first, use Extract PDF Pages.

Tested on real PDFs

Our test PDF	What the DXF held (read back)
An A4 plan: a red frame, a blue circle, a line, a curve, two lines of text and a white background	4 polylines on 3 colour layers, 2 texts; the frame measured 100.0 × 50.0 mm
The same plan at a drawing scale of 1:50	Drawing width 8,500 mm (50 × 170 mm)
A 3-page PDF: Letter portrait, Letter landscape, a scanned page	2 DXF files in a ZIP; page 3 flagged as a picture
A password-protected PDF	Opened after the password, 1 polyline

Every DXF made in testing was also read by an independent DXF reader, dxf-parser, and its entities and extents were compared with the PDF’s own geometry.

Not affiliated with Autodesk.

Sources

Sources: Autodesk DXF Reference (group codes, $INSUNITS, POLYLINE, TEXT); ISO 32000-2, the PDF 2.0 standard (1 point = 1/72 inch); pdf.js on GitHub (Apache-2.0 licence).

Frequently asked questions

Is this PDF to DXF converter free?

Yes. There is no sign-up, no watermark and no limit beyond 100 pages at a time. The PDF is read in your browser and never leaves your device.

Will the DXF be the right size?

Yes. A PDF measures everything in points, 1/72 of an inch, and the DXF keeps that size exactly: an A4 page is 210 × 297 mm in the DXF. The units are written into the file, so CAD programs open it at the right size.

My PDF plan is drawn at 1:50. Can the DXF measure in real units?

Yes. Choose 1:50 as the drawing scale and every coordinate is multiplied by 50, so a wall 100 mm long on paper becomes 5,000 mm in the DXF. Choose Other scale for any other ratio.

Is the text kept?

Yes, by default. Each run of text becomes a DXF TEXT entity at its place and size on the page, so you can edit it in CAD. It uses the CAD program’s standard font, so the wording stays and the exact typeface does not. Choose Leave text out for a clean cutting file.

What about scanned PDFs?

A scanned page is a picture, not lines, so there is nothing to convert, and the tool says so instead of giving you an empty file. Save the page as a picture and trace it with our JPG to DXF converter.

What does not carry over?

A DXF holds lines, not paint: filled areas become their outlines, thick lines become their centre lines, and fills, line widths, gradients and pictures are left out. Each page lists what was left out.

Which DXF version is it?

AutoCAD R12 (AC1009) ASCII DXF, the version that CAD, laser and CNC programs read most widely, with curves as short straight segments at the accuracy you choose.

Can it open password-protected PDFs?

Yes, if you know the password: type it when asked. It is used in your browser only and never sent anywhere.

Is my PDF uploaded?

No. pdf.js is downloaded from jsDelivr and runs in your browser, and the DXF files are written by our own code on your device.