Convert text to SVG: every letter becomes a vector shape
Turn a text file into an SVG online. No account needed.
or drop your TXT anywhere on this page
TXT → PDF → SVG
Your words as letter outlines
To convert text to SVG, press Select TXT file or drop a .txt file anywhere on this page, then press Convert to SVG. There is nothing to set. Our server lays the text out as printed A4 pages and draws each page as an SVG in which every letter is a vector outline (a path): not pixels, and not editable text. So the letters stay sharp however far you enlarge them.
We ran this text to SVG converter on test files of our own and opened every result. None held a single line of real text. Each different character was drawn once as a filled shape and then placed wherever it appears: one full page used 40 shapes, placed 3,456 times. The letters are black and nothing sits behind them, not even a white page, so they show over whatever you place them on.
The layout is the one a printer would get. The words are set in Liberation Mono, a font in which every character takes the same width, at 10 points, so capitals stand about 2.3 mm tall on the page. Each SVG is a whole A4 page, margins included, 595 by 842 units (the PDF point, 1/72 of an inch). That page comes from the first step, which sets the text as a PDF, so the route reads TXT → PDF → SVG.
How to convert TXT to SVG
- 1Select or drop your text file
Nothing uploads until you press convert.
- 2Choose your options
We show the route and its fidelity grade up front.
- 3Download your SVG
Then it is deleted after 24 hours, automatically.
Just the words. No fonts, no layout, no arguments.
Each page as drawing instructions, not pixels, so it stays sharp at any size. Text becomes the outlines of its letters. Several pages arrive as a ZIP, one SVG a page.
Each page is laid out as it would print, then drawn as shapes, so it stays sharp at any size. Expect the odd font substitution. Text becomes the outlines of its letters, so it cannot be edited as text.
Good to know about converting TXT to SVG
- The text is set in a monospaced font on A4 pages first, so columns lined up with spaces stay lined up.
- Each page is then drawn as shapes, so the letters stay sharp at any size and look the same on any computer, but cannot be edited as text.
- A long file fills several pages and comes back as a ZIP named after your file, with one SVG a page.
Getting a word ready for a sign, a logo or a cut
Most people who look for text to SVG online want a word or two in a font they choose, sized for a logo, a sign or a cutting machine. This page cannot pick the font, size or colour, and it needs a saved file rather than words typed into a box. What it does give you is the real outline of every letter, which a vector editor can work with:
- Type the words in any plain-text editor, one line each, save the file with a .txt ending and convert it here.
- Open the SVG in a vector editor. The letters sit near the top left of an otherwise empty A4 page.
- Select the letters you need, then scale them up and change their colour. They are shapes, so the edges stay clean at any size.
Long text files and file size
Every page of the file becomes an SVG, not only the first. A page takes 64 rows of up to 80 characters, and a longer line wraps at a space onto the next row. Our test of 200 short lines came back as long.zip with long-p001.svg to long-p004.svg: three full pages and a fourth holding the last 8 lines. A file that fits on one page gives a single SVG named after it. The page limit is 100, counted after the layout step: a file of 6,401 short lines came to 101 and was stopped, with a message giving the count.
An SVG of text is not always smaller than a picture of it. Every different character is stored as its own shape, so a short note that uses many of them can come out larger than a PNG, while a full page came out at about half the size:
| Test file | SVG | PNG at 150 DPI |
|---|---|---|
| A two-line sign | 14 KB | 13 KB |
| A 14-line note with accents, Greek and Cyrillic | 85 KB | 60 KB |
| One full A4 page of text | 250 KB | 486 KB |
| 200 lines over four pages, in a ZIP | 83 KB | 1.3 MB |
The ZIP shrinks the SVGs a great deal because an SVG is plain text inside: our four pages took 812 KB unpacked.
When a picture of the page suits better
Pick SVG when the letters must stay sharp at any size or be reshaped later. To post, send or attach the page as an ordinary picture, choose a picture format instead: Text to PNG for crisp, lossless pages, convert text to JPG where a form asks for JPG, convert text to GIF for still pictures smaller than PNG, or convert text to TIFF for every page in one file, up to 50 of them.
Lettering you only have as a picture, such as a logo file, a photo of a shop sign or a scanned signature, holds pixels and no text, so this page cannot read it. Instead, trace the picture into vector shapes with Image to SVG, which works in your browser. For a document that is already a PDF, convert PDF to SVG: its pages become shapes the same way, with no layout step first. A web page saved as an .html file goes the same way as text: convert HTML to SVG.
Questions people ask
Is the SVG made of editable vector text?
No. The file holds no text at all: each letter is a filled outline, drawn once and reused wherever it appears. It looks the same on any computer, with or without the font, but the words cannot be selected, searched, copied or retyped. When they must stay words, Text to PDF keeps them as text.
Will the letters stay sharp when I enlarge them?
Yes. An outline is drawn again at whatever size you show it, so the edges stay smooth from a phone screen to a poster. A PNG or JPG of the same page is a grid of pixels and turns soft or blocky when stretched.
Can I choose the font, size or colour of the letters?
Not on this page. Every file is set in Liberation Mono at 10 points, in black, on an A4 page. Because the letters are shapes, a vector editor can resize and recolour them afterwards, but it cannot turn them into another font.
Why does the route go through a PDF?
A text file has no pages, font or layout of its own, so our server first sets it as a printed A4 document, then draws each page as shapes. Two steps, graded Very good. A character the server has no font for comes out as an empty box: Chinese did in our test, while accents, Greek and Cyrillic came through.
How much text fits in one SVG?
One A4 page. The text flows onto as many pages as it needs, and each page becomes its own SVG in the ZIP.
Is converting Text to SVG free?
Yes. Up to 25 MB and three conversions a day are free, with no account. Pro and Business lift the file limit to 100 MB and remove the daily cap.
What happens to my files?
Both your Text and the SVG we produce are deleted 24 hours after each conversion, automatically. Try again and Continue to another tool start a new conversion, with its own 24 hours. Nothing is used for training and no human looks at your documents.
Will the SVG look exactly like the Text?
This pair grades as “Very good”. We show the exact route and that grade before you convert, so there are no surprises about what survives the trip.
Do I need to install anything?
No. Nothing to install. Pick or drop a file here, it's converted on our servers, and you download the result.
How large can my file be?
25 MB on the free plan, and 100 MB on Pro and Business.
Can I convert several files at once?
On Pro and Business, yes: add up to 100 files before converting. The free plan converts one file at a time.
