Made Good Designs

PNG to AI Converter

Turn a PNG into an .ai file of real vector shapes, without uploading it anywhere. A PNG is a grid of pixels and an .ai file is vector artwork, so the picture is traced: areas of colour become filled shapes that stay sharp at any size. Choose how many colours and how much detail, from a two-colour stamp to a 32-colour illustration, and compare the result with your picture side by side. The shapes are saved as a PDF-compatible .ai, the kind vector editors open directly, and the tool then opens the new file again and counts the vector paths inside, so you know it holds shapes, not your picture. Logos, icons, flat illustrations and line art trace best; photos turn into thousands of small shapes. Add several PNGs to get one .ai each, in a ZIP. Your pictures never leave your device.

100% private — everything runs in your browser. Your pictures are traced and saved as .ai files on your device; nothing is uploaded or stored.

100% private — runs in your browser
Drop PNG files here or click to chooseOne or several. The picture is traced into vector shapes. JPG and WebP work too. Your files stay on your device.

Your PNG

The .ai artboard (drawn from the file)

Tracing

Fewer colours give fewer, cleaner shapes. Photos trace into many small shapes.

Artboard

The .ai is PDF-based, the kind vector apps open directly. It holds the traced shapes, not your original picture.

Runs in your browser: imagetracerjs (public domain) traces the picture with the same settings as our PNG to SVG tool, svg2pdf.js and jsPDF (MIT) write the .ai, and pdf.js (Apache-2.0) checks it; all load from jsDelivr. Your pictures are never uploaded and nothing is saved. You may use what you make here, including commercially, with no credit needed. The rights in your own pictures stay as they were. Not affiliated with Adobe.

How to convert a PNG to AI

  1. Drop your PNG on the box, or click Try a sample.
  2. Pick a starting point such as Logo or Black and white, then move the Colours and Detail sliders until the preview looks right.
  3. Check the line under the preview: it counts the vector paths read back from the new .ai.
  4. Click Download .ai, or Download all for several pictures.

What you can use it for

  • Turn a logo saved as PNG into vector artwork for a vector editor
  • Give a printer or sign maker the .ai file they ask for
  • Make a cutting file from simple black and white art
  • Rebuild an icon at a much larger size without blur
  • Get editable colour shapes from a flat illustration
  • Trace a batch of icons in one go

What tracing does to your picture

Your PNGIn the .aiHow well it traces
Logo or icon in a few flat coloursOne shape per area of colourVery well
Black and white line art, stamps, signaturesBlack shapes on an empty artboardVery well (use 2 colours)
Flat illustration with many coloursMany shapes in up to 32 coloursWell
Photo or soft gradientsThousands of small shapes in steps of colourPoorly: keep photos as pictures
See-through areasLeft emptyKept

A modern .ai file is built on PDF: when it is saved with PDF compatibility, the usual setting, the file holds a complete PDF of the artwork, and that PDF part is what other programs read. The .ai made here is exactly that PDF part, so vector apps open it directly, with no Illustrator editing data inside.

The tool is honest about what you get: shapes traced from your picture, not your original file’s layers or the fonts in it. Text in a PNG becomes shapes of letters, not editable text.

Settings

Start fromColoursDetailGood for
Logo or flat art165Most logos and icons
Black and white26Line art, stamps, cutting files
Few colours, smooth64Simple shapes with clean edges
Detailed328Illustrations with many colours

These are the same settings and the same tracing engine as our PNG to SVG tool, so a picture traces the same way on both pages. The trace runs on a copy of your picture at 500 px on its long side by default; 1000 px keeps finer edges and takes longer.

Want to clean the picture first? Crop or enlarge it with the Image Resizer. For an SVG instead of an .ai, use PNG to SVG or the Image Vectorizer; to edit the traced shapes in your browser, open the SVG in the SVG Editor.

Tested on real pictures

Our test PNGVector paths read back from the .aiPictures in the .ai
The sample logo (480 × 320 px, 4 colours)1140
A 200 × 120 px RGB test picture (300 ppi saved)50
A PNG with soft see-through edges560
A palette PNG with transparency30

Each .ai made in testing was also opened in a second, independent PDF reader: it held vector drawings and no pictures.

Not affiliated with Adobe.

Sources

Sources: imagetracerjs on GitHub (The Unlicense); svg2pdf.js on GitHub (MIT licence); jsPDF on GitHub (MIT licence); pdf.js on GitHub (Apache-2.0 licence); CSS Values and Units (W3C): 1 in = 96 px = 72 pt.

More free design file tools

Working with vector files?

Trace, view and convert design files with free tools that run privately in your browser: nothing uploaded.

See all free tools →

Related tools

  • PNG to SVG — trace PNG logos and icons into scalable SVG vectors
  • Image to SVG Vectorizer — trace a raster image into a scalable SVG
  • SVG to AI — SVG shapes, gradients, clip paths and text to vector .ai artwork, read back to prove it is vector, many SVGs as one .ai or one each, features that do not carry over listed
  • PDF to AI — copy chosen PDF pages, nothing redrawn, into a PDF-compatible .ai (one file or one per page), vector or picture-only pages marked, every page checked; nothing uploaded
  • PNG to EPS — put a PNG into a real EPS file at a chosen print size, transparency kept or filled, optional traced vector paths, read-back check
  • PNG to Vector — trace a PNG once into vector shapes and save SVG, PDF, EPS, AI or DXF from the same trace, each read back after making; colours, detail, background removal; nothing uploaded
  • JPG to AI — trace a JPG into vector shapes and save a PDF-compatible .ai with 0 pictures inside (checked); photo presets, JPEG smoothing, background removal, print-size artboard; nothing uploaded

Frequently asked questions

Is this PNG to AI converter free?

Yes. There is no sign-up, no watermark and no daily limit. The tracing and the .ai file are made in your browser, so your PNG never leaves your device.

Is the .ai file vector?

Yes. The picture is traced into filled shapes, and only those shapes go into the .ai. After making the file, the tool opens it again and counts what is inside: the line under the preview shows the number of vector paths and 0 pictures.

Will it look exactly like my PNG?

Close, not exact. Tracing turns each area of colour into a shape, so soft shading becomes steps of colour and very fine detail is smoothed. Logos, icons and flat art come out very close; photos do not suit tracing.

Which settings should I use?

Logo or flat art (16 colours) suits most logos. Black and white (2 colours) suits stamps, line art and cutting files. Raise Detail to keep small corners and thin lines; lower it for smoother, fewer shapes.

Is it a real .ai file?

It is a PDF-compatible .ai, which is what a modern .ai file is underneath: the same PDF-based structure Illustrator saves inside every .ai with PDF compatibility, the part other programs read. It has no Illustrator editing data, so Illustrator opens it the way it opens a PDF, with every shape there to edit.

Does transparency stay transparent?

Yes. See-through areas of the PNG are not traced, so they stay empty in the .ai. Choose a white background if you want the artboard filled.

What size is the artboard?

By default one PNG pixel becomes one point, so a 600 × 400 px PNG makes a 600 × 400 pt artboard, the same numbers you see in a vector editor. CSS size uses 96 pixels to the inch instead: the same PNG makes a 450 × 300 pt artboard.

Can I get the traced SVG too?

Yes. Download the traced SVG saves the same shapes as an SVG file, for the web or for apps that prefer SVG.

Is my PNG uploaded?

No. imagetracerjs, svg2pdf.js, jsPDF and pdf.js are downloaded from jsDelivr and run in your browser; your pictures stay on your device.