Convert SVG to 3MF
This turns your drawing into a solid and writes it as a 3MF. The reason to pick 3MF over STL is one line in the file: 3MF records what its numbers mean, so the part opens in your slicer at the size you set and not at some other size.
Drag a 3D file here, or.
This page is set up for SVG files. Other formats we can read work here too.
The file is read on your own computer. It is never uploaded.
Your file is read by your own browser and never sent to a server. There is no upload, no account and no copy of your model anywhere but on your computer.
Why 3MF rather than STL for a drawing
An STL is a list of numbers with no statement of what they mean. A slicer assumes millimetres, and that assumption is right often enough that nobody notices it is an assumption — until the day it is wrong.
A 3MF states its unit in the file. Set the output to millimetres and the file says millimetres; set it to inches and it says inches, and the slicer scales accordingly. For a drawing this matters more than for a model, because a drawing’s size comes out of its header rather than out of anything you can see, and a sign that arrives at 96 pixels to the inch instead of 100 millimetres wide is not obviously wrong until it is on the bed.
3MF also keeps separate objects separate. Every shape in the drawing stays its own object with its own name, so a sheet of parts arrives in the slicer as a sheet of parts you can arrange, not as one lump.
Which slicers read it
PrusaSlicer, OrcaSlicer, Bambu Studio, Cura and Simplify3D all open a 3MF. So do Fusion 360, Windows 3D Builder and Microsoft’s own tools, since 3MF is their format.
The file written here is a plain 3MF model — geometry, names and a unit. It is not a slicer project: there are no supports, no print settings and no plate arrangement in it, because those belong to your slicer and your printer rather than to a drawing.
Getting the thickness right
The thickness box is in millimetres whatever output unit you choose, because that is the number people think in for a printed part. Three millimetres is a sturdy keyring or a sign that will not warp. One millimetre is a stencil. Ten to fifteen with a thin wall is a cookie cutter.
Watch the height figure beside the 3D view as you change it. That figure is what will be in the file, converted into the output unit, so if it says what you wanted then the slicer will agree.
Closed shapes and holes
Only a closed outline encloses an area, and only an area can be given a thickness. Open paths — lines, arcs, outlines whose ends do not quite meet — are left out, and you are told how many above the settings.
Shapes drawn inside other shapes become holes, worked out by counting how deeply each outline is nested. A letter O keeps its middle, a washer keeps its bore, and the dot inside an i stays solid because it is two levels in.
What survives, and what does not
Kept in the 3MF file
- The unit, stated in the file, so the slicer cannot guess wrong
- Every shape as a separate named object
- Holes, worked out from the nesting of the outlines
- The size the drawing states, or whatever you scale it to
Lost on the way
- Open paths and strokes, which enclose no area to thicken
- Colours and gradients from the drawing
- Live text, unless you convert it to outlines before exporting
How to convert SVG to 3MF
Prepare the drawing
Convert text to paths and expand strokes into outlines. Only a closed outline encloses an area, and only an area can be given a thickness.
Drop the .svg file in
Every closed shape becomes its own object. The note above the settings says how many open paths were skipped, if any.
Check the declared size
A drawing that states a real width in millimetres gives you that width. One that does not is read at 96 pixels to the inch, and the scale box is how you correct it.
Set the thickness in millimetres
Watch the height figure beside the 3D view — that is what goes into the file, converted into the output unit you chose.
Choose the output unit and download
Whatever you pick is written into the 3MF as a statement rather than an assumption. That is the entire reason to choose 3MF over STL here.
SVG and 3MF compared
| Property | SVG.svg | 3MF.3mf |
|---|---|---|
| File contents | XML. A text description of shapes, readable and editable by hand. | A ZIP archive holding XML. The model itself is one XML part inside it. |
| Geometry | Flat paths: lines, arcs, and cubic and quadratic Bézier curves. | Triangles, with a build platform and placement for each object. |
| Units | Real units are allowed — mm, cm, in — but most files use bare user units. | Recorded in the file. Millimetre, centimetre, inch, foot, metre or micron. |
| Colour and texture | Fills, strokes, gradients and patterns, none of which describe a solid. | Colour groups and materials per triangle, and textures in later extensions. |
| Separate objects | Groups and layers, with ids and names on both. | Several named objects, each placed on the build plate with its own transform. |
| Published by | The W3C, 1999. Version 1.1 is what tools write; SVG 2 is still arriving. | The 3MF Consortium, 2015, explicitly to replace STL. |
| Written by | Illustrator, Inkscape, Affinity Designer, Figma and every drawing program. | PrusaSlicer, OrcaSlicer, Bambu Studio, Cura, Fusion 360 and Windows itself. |
Questions
- Will my slicer open this?
- Yes. PrusaSlicer, OrcaSlicer, Bambu Studio, Cura and Simplify3D all read 3MF, and so do Fusion 360 and Windows 3D Builder.
- Should I use 3MF or STL for a sign?
- 3MF, if your slicer takes it. It records the units, so the sign arrives at the size you set. STL works too but relies on your slicer assuming millimetres.
- Can I keep the shapes as separate parts in the slicer?
- Yes. Each shape in the drawing is written as its own object, and every slicer that reads 3MF will show them separately. Use the object list above the settings if you only want some of them.
- Is this a slicer project file?
- No. It is a plain 3MF model with geometry, names and a unit in it. Supports, print settings and plate arrangement are your slicer’s job.
- Can I give different shapes different thicknesses?
- Not in one pass. Convert the drawing once at each thickness, switching off the shapes you do not want each time, and arrange the results in your slicer.
Having it printed
If the part is larger than your bed, needs a material your printer cannot handle, or you do not have a printer, these will print it and post it to you. Work out what it would cost you first — the cost calculator on this site gives you a figure to compare against.
- JLC3DPCheapest for resin and nylon, slow shipping
- CraftcloudCompares dozens of printers at once, including local ones
- PCBWayMetal printing and CNC as well as plastic
These are ordinary links, not paid referrals — we earn nothing if you use them. The converter above is the same whether you do or not.
Where to go next
Other things to do with a SVG file
Other ways to get a 3MF file
Related guides and tools
- Turn text into an STLType a word and print it, without drawing anything
- Gridfinity generatorBins and baseplates, any size, built in the browser
- Repair an STL that will not sliceClose the holes and separate the bad edges so a slicer accepts it
- Reduce the size of an STL fileFewer triangles, the same shape, a much smaller file
- Check whether an STL is ready to printFind out what is wrong with a model before you print it
- Convert STL to DWGGuide
- How to turn a PDF into an STLGuide
- STL to G-codeGuide
- How to convert an STL file to G-codeGuide