SVG Converter for Cricut and Silhouette

A cut file is not just any SVG

Design Space splits an uploaded SVG into layers by color and cuts every shape it finds (Cricut). Most tracers, ours included in its other modes, make SVGs that look right on a screen, and a screen is forgiving in ways a blade is not. Our blue badge sample is a good example. A normal color trace gives three colored shapes, so it would arrive as three layers, with a white triangle sitting on top of a blue square instead of a hole cut through it. Cut file mode gives one black shape with a triangular hole: one layer, one cut.

In a normal trace	In Cut file mode
One layer per color, light shapes stacked on dark ones	One layer. Light areas inside the design are holes
Whether a hole stays open depends on how the software reads fills	One path. Holes run the opposite way to their outlines, so they stay open under either fill rule
Specks and pinholes from JPEG noise and paper dust	Pieces and holes smaller than the size you set are removed or filled
Sized in pixels, which each program reads at its own scale	The width you set, stated in points (72 to the inch)
The background traced as a rectangle around everything	No background: only the design is cut

Weeding by real size, in numbers

A speck is only a problem at the size you cut. Dust that is a quarter of a millimetre on a mug decal is a full millimetre on a shirt. So Smallest piece is measured across each piece at the width you set, and the same image is cleaned less the bigger you cut it. These are the counts for our kitten drawing sample with the 2 mm default:

Kitten drawing, 2 mm smallest piece	3 in wide	6 in wide	10 in wide
Pieces to cut	17	20	22
Holes to weed	38	44	44
Specks removed	5	2	0
Pinholes filled	15	9	9

At 10 inches nothing in the drawing is too small, so only nine pinholes go. At 3 inches more of its small marks and the gaps between close lines shrink below 2 mm, and the tool takes out 20 of them that you would otherwise pick at with a hook. Size is measured across, not by area, so a long thin stroke is kept even though its area is small. Removing it would change the drawing; it is the specks and pinholes that make weeding miserable.

How to make a Cricut cut file from a PNG

1. Add your image. Drop it onto the tool above. A dark design on a light background, or a transparent PNG, works best.
2. Set the width. Type the width you'll cut the design at, in inches or centimetres. The tool shows the height, and warns if the design won't fit a 12 x 12 in mat.
3. Set the smallest piece. 2 mm for most vinyl. The note under the slider says how many specks and pinholes it took out.
4. Check the preview. Drag the divider across, zoom in, and turn on Outlines to see exactly what will be cut.
5. Download the SVG and upload it in Design Space. For Silhouette Studio Basic, download the DXF.

In Cricut Design Space

• Uploading. Choose Upload, then Upload Image, then Browse. Cricut treats SVG and DXF as vector images that upload as designed, with no cleanup screen (Cricut).
• One layer. The file holds one black path, so it arrives as one layer, set to cut. Recolor it on the canvas to match your vinyl if you like.
• Size. Check the W box once it's on the canvas: it should read the width you set.
• Mat size. The most a 12 x 12 in mat can cut is 11.5 x 11.5 in (Cricut). The tool warns when the design is bigger than that.
• Path limit. Design Space refuses SVGs with more than 5,000 paths (Cricut). A cut file from here is a single path, so it never gets near that.
• Phones and tablets. The iOS and Android apps don't take DXF files (Cricut), so upload the SVG there.

In Silhouette Studio

Which file to use depends on your edition of Studio (Silhouette):

Edition	Opens	Download
Basic (free)	DXF ready to cut; PNG and JPG to trace	DXF
Designer	Adds SVG and PDF	SVG
Designer Plus	Adds embroidery files	SVG
Business	Adds AI, EPS and CDR	SVG

• SVG size. Silhouette says SVGs need to be at 72 DPI to keep their size (Silhouette). Ours states its size in points, 72 to the inch, so it opens at the width you set.
• DXF size. Silhouette says DXF files don't carry their size into other programs (Silhouette), and Studio 5 bears that out: every DXF we opened came in 10.356 in wide, a 3 mm square as much as a 100 mm one, whatever unit the file declared. Set the width in Studio after importing.
• DXF version. Silhouette's help asks Illustrator users for R13 DXF files. Ours are R12, the oldest and most widely read version, and they open in Silhouette Studio 5 with no import prompts (we tested on 2026-10-03). If an older Studio won't open one, download the PNG instead and use Studio's own Trace, which Basic Edition includes.

Smallest piece: what to set

Material	Smallest piece	Why
Adhesive vinyl, smooth iron-on	2 mm (the default)	Our starting point: fine detail survives, dust and pinholes don't
Glitter or metallic iron-on	2 mm, and keep lines over 1.8 mm	Printify's guidelines for these vinyls: lines at least 1.8 mm, gaps at least 1.5 mm (Printify)
Cutaway cards, intricate cardstock	6.5 mm (¼ in)	Cricut says to keep details ¼ in or larger on its Cutaway Cards (Cricut)

Smallest piece removes small pieces and fills small holes. It doesn't thicken thin lines: a 1 mm line stays 1 mm. If your vinyl tears on thin lines, thicken them in the original or pick a bolder design.

Layered vinyl and more than one color

Cut file mode makes one layer. For a design cut in several colors, switch the mode to Color and tick Transparent background. Each color comes out as its own shapes and Design Space makes a layer of each. The shapes are stacked, with lower colors running under the ones above them, which matches the Stacked style Cricut recommends for iron-on, paper and vinyl (Cricut). Drag the Colors slider down to merge shades you don't want as separate layers.

When you don't need this tool

• Design Space can do a simple job itself. Its upload makes a one-color cut shape from a PNG for free, with the Single Layer option. Its Multiple Layers option and automatic background remover need a Cricut Access subscription (Cricut).
• Silhouette Studio Basic can trace too. It opens PNG and JPG files to trace (Silhouette).
• Use this tool when you want the size set before you upload, specks removed by their real size, holes that stay holes, a DXF, or one file that opens in both programs.

Where it falls short

• Photos. A phone photo of a pen sketch, cut at 6 inches with the 2 mm default, still left 140 pieces after 429 specks were removed. Photos and painted art don't make good one-layer cuts. Print Then Cut suits them better.
• Thin lines. They are kept as they are, not thickened.
• Large designs. Anything over 11.5 in won't fit a 12 x 12 in mat. Use a longer mat or split the design.
• One color only. For a layered design, use Color mode, as above.