DWG to DXF Converter

Convert a DWG to DXF in your browser. Layers, blocks, arcs and text come through intact.

Matúš Koleják

Built and maintained by Matúš Koleják, Co-Founder, TechDraw AI

Updated

Drop a file here. It never leaves your browser.

DWGtoDXF

DXF (ASCII or binary), DWG (R14 to 2018+), SVG · any size · free · DXF first, SVG, PDF, STL one click away

Have a different file? SVG to DXF Converter

How to convert a DWG to DXF

1

Add your DWG

Drop a DWG onto the tool, or click to choose one. It is read in your browser and never uploaded.

2

Check the preview

Zoom the preview and switch off any layers you do not want in the output.

3

Download DXF

Click Download DXF. SVG, PDF, STL are one click away from the same file.

What happens to your file

The DWG is parsed into a full drawing database in your browser, then written back out as DXF (AutoCAD 2000 format). Geometry is not flattened: arcs stay arcs, splines stay splines, blocks stay blocks, and layers, colours, line types, text and dimensions come along.

Whatever cannot be converted is listed under the preview by type and count, so a drawing with 3D solids or an external reference tells you so instead of coming out quietly incomplete. Need a photo or scan turned into a drawing instead? That is the image to DXF converter and the AI drawing generator.

About formats

DWG (from 'drawing') is the native binary file format of AutoCAD, created by Mike Riddle in the late 1970s for Interact CAD and adopted by Autodesk in 1982 when AutoCAD 1.0 shipped. Unlike DXF, which was designed to be exchanged and can be read as plain text, DWG is a compact binary container built for working files: it stores the full model alongside everything that surrounds it, including layers, blocks and block attributes, layouts and paper space, line types, text styles, dimension styles, annotative scaling, external references and 3D geometry. Because it is binary and densely packed, a DWG is typically a fraction of the size of the same drawing written as DXF, which matters once a file carries thousands of entities. The format is versioned in step with AutoCAD releases, and the version matters in practice: a file written for a newer release will not open in an older one, which is why AC1015 (AutoCAD 2000) is still the safest version to hand someone, since every release since reads it. The specification is proprietary and Autodesk has never published it, so other software reads and writes DWG either through Autodesk's own RealDWG libraries or through the Open Design Alliance's independently developed implementation. DWG remains the working master format across architecture, engineering and construction, with DXF used for the handoff.

Developer:
Autodesk
Initial release:
1982

Frequently asked questions

Is DWG to DXF conversion free?

Yes, with no watermark and no file limit. Everything runs in your browser, so the file never leaves your computer; a free account is needed only to download a converted file. Viewing needs no account at all.

Is my DWG uploaded anywhere?

No. The file is opened by JavaScript running in your browser tab and never sent to a server. You can disconnect from the internet after the page loads and the tool keeps working. That is the main reason to prefer this over an upload-and-email converter for a drawing you are not allowed to share.

Which DWG versions open?

AutoCAD R14 (AC1014) through AutoCAD 2018 and later (AC1032), which covers every DWG written in the last twenty-five years, including files from BricsCAD, ZWCAD, DraftSight and Fusion. If a particular file refuses, the usual cause is an add-on object the reader cannot decode; saving it as DXF from the program that made it and dropping that works.

What survives the DWG to DXF conversion?

Everything the drawing database holds in model space and in blocks: lines, polylines with bulges, circles, arcs, ellipses, splines, hatches, solids, text, multiline text, dimensions, leaders, inserts and attributes, with their layers, colours, line types and line weights. The output is AutoCAD 2000 format, which every release since opens. Paper-space layouts are not carried over.

Why AutoCAD 2000 format and not the newest?

Because it is the version everything reads. A 2000-format file opens in every AutoCAD since, in every clone, in every CAM package and in every free viewer. A newer format would gain nothing for 2D geometry and lose readers. If you need a newer version for a specific feature, open the file in AutoCAD and save as.

What is not converted?

3D solids, surfaces, meshes and regions (ACIS data), raster images, PDF underlays, OLE objects, external references, and paper-space layouts. Tables, multileaders and tolerances are read but not drawn. Whatever was skipped is listed under the preview after the file opens, by entity type and count, so nothing disappears silently.

I have a DXF or SVG instead. Can I still use this?

Yes. The converter on every one of these pages accepts DXF, DWG and SVG, whichever page you started from, and offers every output it can produce from that file.

Is there an API for DWG to DXF?

Not for this tool yet. The converter runs entirely client-side. The REST API, command line tool and MCP server currently cover image to DXF, DWG and STL; if you need vector conversion in a pipeline, say so at the contact page and it moves up the list.

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