DWG to STL Converter
Extrude the closed outlines in a DWG into a 3D printable STL, without AutoCAD.
Built and maintained by Matúš Koleják, Co-Founder, TechDraw AI
Updated
Drop a file here. It never leaves your browser.
DXF (ASCII or binary), DWG (R14 to 2018+), SVG · any size · free · STL first, DXF, SVG, PDF one click away
Have a different file? DXF to STL Converter · SVG to STL Converter
How to convert a DWG to STL
Add your DWG
Drop a DWG onto the tool, or click to choose one. It is read in your browser and never uploaded.
Check the preview
Zoom the preview, switch off any layers you do not want, set the thickness and the size.
Download STL
Click Download STL. DXF, SVG, PDF are one click away from the same file.
What happens to your file
The DWG is read as geometry, every closed outline is found, holes are sorted from outlines, and the result is extruded to the thickness you set and written as a watertight binary STL at the drawing's real size. Open paths cannot bound a solid and are left out; the page tells you how many.
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 STL 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.
Why does it say some paths were left out?
An STL is a closed solid, and only a closed outline can bound one. Dimension lines, centre lines, leader lines and any outline whose ends do not meet are open paths and have no inside to fill, so they are skipped and counted. If a shape you wanted is missing, close it in your CAD program (PEDIT, Close in AutoCAD; Path, Close in Inkscape) and drop the file again.
How are holes handled?
By nesting. A closed outline inside another closed outline is a hole; an outline inside a hole is solid again, so the counter of a letter O and the island inside it both come out right. The mesh is built so every edge is shared by exactly two triangles, which is what a slicer needs to tell inside from outside.
What size will the STL be?
The drawing's real size by default, taken from the DWG's own units, so a 100 mm plate prints at 100 mm. You can instead set the longest side, which scales the whole model. Thickness is the extrusion height. An STL carries no units, and every slicer assumes millimetres, so that is what is written.
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 STL?
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.