DWG to DXF Converter
Convert an AutoCAD DWG drawing to DXF in your browser. Upload the file, convert, and download the DXF. No account, no watermark, and the upload is deleted after processing.
Unlike converting an image to CAD, this is a true format translation. Both formats hold the same kind of drawing data, so your geometry comes across exactly, with nothing traced, approximated or redrawn. There are a few things that do not travel as cleanly, and they are worth knowing before you send the file to someone else.
What the conversion actually does
A DWG and a DXF describe the same thing: a drawing database of entities, layers, blocks, linetypes and text, each with its properties and coordinates. The difference is how that database is written down.
DWG is Autodesk's own binary format. It is compact and it is what AutoCAD saves by default, but the specification has never been published. Every program that is not made by Autodesk reads DWG through work done by the Open Design Alliance rather than from official documentation.
DXF is the format Autodesk does publish. It was created in 1982 for exactly this purpose: moving drawings between programs. The usual form is plain text, a long list of numbered tags and values, which you can open in a text editor and read.
So converting DWG to DXF rewrites the same drawing in a documented format. Lines stay lines, arcs stay arcs, layers keep their names and colours, and coordinates are unchanged. Nothing is measured differently afterwards.
Why people convert DWG to DXF
To send a drawing to someone without AutoCAD. DXF is the format almost every CAD and drawing program can open, including free ones.
To drive a machine. Laser cutters, plasma tables, waterjets, CNC routers and vinyl cutters overwhelmingly expect DXF. Many controllers will not accept DWG at all.
To use free or open-source CAD software. LibreCAD and QCAD work in DXF. This is the single most common reason for the conversion.
To import into other software. Illustrator, Inkscape, Blender, SketchUp, GIS packages and most CAM software take DXF far more reliably than DWG.
To archive. A documented text format is a safer long-term bet than a proprietary binary one, which is why many public bodies and archives require DXF.
How to convert DWG to DXF
Upload the DWG
Drag the file into the box or click to browse. If the drawing uses external references, read the section below before you convert.
Convert
Press Convert. The drawing database is read and rewritten as DXF. Conversion is quick; the time is mostly the upload.
Download the DXF
Save the file. It opens in AutoCAD, LibreCAD, QCAD, BricsCAD, DraftSight, Fusion 360 and most machine software without any further step.
Open it and check the layers
Look at the layer list and a few dimensions before you send the file on. Thirty seconds here catches almost everything that can go wrong.
What does not survive the conversion
Geometry comes across intact. These are the things that do not, and they are the reason a converted drawing sometimes looks wrong on someone else's screen.
External references. An xref is a link to another drawing, not a copy of it. The link is preserved and the drawing it points to is not, because it was never inside the file. If your drawing uses xrefs, bind them in AutoCAD before converting, or send every referenced file along with it. This is the most common cause of a drawing arriving mostly empty.
SHX fonts. AutoCAD's own font files are not embedded in a DXF. If the person opening it does not have the same SHX file installed, their software substitutes another font, and text shifts, overlaps or changes width. TrueType fonts are usually safer for anything you are sending out.
Custom and proxy objects. Drawings made in Civil 3D, AutoCAD Architecture, Plant 3D or MEP contain intelligent objects that only those products understand. In a DXF they become proxy entities: they look correct, but they are no longer editable as the objects they were. Exploding them before converting gives plain geometry that behaves predictably everywhere.
Dynamic blocks. The geometry is kept. The parameters that made the block adjustable generally are not, once the file is opened somewhere other than AutoCAD.
Images and PDF underlays. These are attached by reference in the same way as xrefs, so they need to travel with the drawing.
DXF versions, and why R12 still matters
DXF has been revised many times since 1982, and each revision added entity types. Which version you write matters when the software at the other end is old.
The most recent versions support everything a modern DWG contains: splines, ellipses, multiline text, lightweight polylines and the rest. If the recipient has current software, use a recent version and nothing is lost.
R12 is the other end of the scale, and it is still the safest format in existence for anything that reads DXF at all. Almost every machine controller ever made accepts it. The trade-off is that R12 predates several entity types, so splines and ellipses are written as polylines that closely follow the same path, and multiline text becomes ordinary text. The drawing looks the same and cuts the same; the curves are approximations rather than true curves.
If a machine or an old program rejects your DXF without explanation, an R12 export is almost always what it wants.
ASCII or binary DXF
DXF comes in two forms. ASCII is the usual one: plain text, readable in any editor, and easy to inspect or fix by hand when something is odd. Binary DXF holds the same data more compactly and loads faster, but nothing can be read from it directly.
Unless a specific program has asked for binary, use ASCII. The size difference rarely matters and being able to open the file and look at it does.
Common problems
The drawing opens nearly empty. Almost always missing external references. Bind the xrefs in AutoCAD, then convert again.
Text is the wrong size or overlapping. Font substitution, because an SHX font is not available on the machine that opened it. Switch that text style to a TrueType font before converting.
Objects look right but cannot be edited. They were custom objects from a vertical Autodesk product and are now proxies. Explode them in the original drawing first.
The machine software will not accept the file. Export as R12 DXF, which is the most widely supported version there is.
Curves look faceted. An older DXF version approximated splines and ellipses as polylines. Use a newer version if the recipient's software supports it.
The file is much larger than the DWG. Expected. ASCII DXF is text and typically several times the size of the binary DWG holding the same drawing. It compresses very well if you need to email it.
DWG and DXF side by side
DWG has been AutoCAD's native format since 1982. It is binary, compact, and holds everything AutoCAD can express, including product-specific intelligent objects. Its specification is closed.
DXF was published by Autodesk in the same era so that drawings could move between programs. It holds the same geometry in a documented, usually text-based form, which is why it is the format machines, free CAD software and archives ask for.
They are not competing formats. DXF is the one you use to leave AutoCAD, and it has been doing that job for over forty years.
