Comparison of raster to vector conversion software
The following tables contain general and technical information about a number of raster to vector conversion software products. Please see the individual products' articles for further information.
General information
This table gives basic general information about the different vector graphics editors:
|
Creator |
Released |
Latest version |
List price (USD) |
License |
| RxRaster |
Rasterex Software a.s |
1997 |
11.0 |
2800 Euro |
Proprietary |
| AutoTrace |
Martin Weber |
1998 |
0.31.1 |
free |
GPL |
| CG Vector Service |
CG Vector Service |
2008 |
1 |
$10 |
Proprietary |
| AutoVector |
Caricature Software |
2009 |
1.0 |
$50 |
Proprietary |
| BMP2SVG |
Accelerated I/O |
2010 |
1.1.1 |
free |
GPL |
| CorelDRAW |
Corel |
2010 |
X5 |
$499, $199 upgrade |
Proprietary |
| Easy Trace |
Easy Trace Group |
2009 |
9.0 build 1856 |
1500 Euro, 750 Euro upgrade |
Proprietary |
| Freehand |
Macromedia |
1988 |
11.0.2 discontinued (MX) |
$399, $99 upgrade |
Proprietary |
| Illustrator |
Adobe Systems |
1985 |
15.0.2 (CS 5) |
$499, $169 upgrade |
Proprietary |
| MagicTracer |
Elgorithms MagicTracer |
2005 |
2.0 |
$59 |
Proprietary |
| MST Viewer |
MS Technology |
2002 |
14.1 |
Commercial Use Only |
Proprietary |
| PhotoLine |
Computerinsel GmbH |
1997 |
14.02 |
59 Euro |
Proprietary |
| Potrace |
Peter Selinger |
2001 |
1.9 |
free |
GPL |
| R2V Toolkit |
AlgoLab |
? |
2.91 |
$99 |
Proprietary |
| Ras2Vec |
Davide Libenzi |
1989 |
1.2 |
free |
GPL |
| Image2XAML |
Roman Kalachik |
2008 |
0.7 |
free |
GPL |
| GTXRaster CAD Series |
GTX Corp |
1992 |
2010 |
From $495 |
Proprietary |
| GTXImage CAD Series |
GTX Corp |
1997 |
V11.5 |
From $1395 |
Proprietary |
| Raster to Vector |
Raster to Vector |
? |
7.0 |
$99 |
Proprietary |
| RasterVect |
RasterVect |
1997 |
16.2 |
$79 |
Proprietary |
| RaveGrid |
RaveGrid |
2006 |
2.5 |
free for personal use
(commercial licenses available) |
Proprietary |
| Scan2CAD Pro |
AVIA |
1997 |
8 |
$399, upgrades from $139 |
Proprietary |
| Silhouette Pro |
Free Soft S.A. |
1992 |
1.9.4 |
$359 |
Proprietary |
| Adobe Streamline |
Adobe Systems |
? |
4.0 |
? |
Proprietary |
| VectorEye |
Siame |
2010 |
(PC) |
€59,89,119/lic, |
Proprietary |
| Vector Magic |
Vector Magic |
2007 |
1.14(PC), 1.14(Mac) |
$7.95/mo, $295/lic, tokens |
Proprietary |
| Vextractor |
VextraSoft |
2001 |
5.70 |
$99.95 |
Proprietary |
| VPHybridCAD |
softelec |
2007 |
9.03 |
$3800 |
Proprietary |
| WinTopo Freeware |
SoftSoft |
1998 |
1.661 |
free |
Proprietary |
| WiseImage |
Consistent Software |
2001 |
10.7 |
$1400 |
Proprietary |
| RasVector |
Daniel Lu |
2007 |
1.1.5 b6 |
free |
GPL |
| Xara Photo & Graphic Designer |
Xara Group Ltd. |
1994 |
7.0 |
89$ |
Proprietary |
| XTrace |
Ronny Schütz |
1998/2005 |
2.0 |
25$ for Amiga (Demo available) |
Proprietary |
| VectorNow |
AutoDWG |
2002 |
2.1 |
$120.00 |
Proprietary |
| DesignPresentation |
DesignPresentation |
2002 |
2.0 |
Pay Per Use |
SaaS |
|
Creator |
Released |
Latest version |
List price (USD) |
License |
Operating system support
This table lists the operating systems that different programs can run on without emulation:
| NAME |
Linux |
Windows |
Mac OS X |
BSD |
AmigaOS/AROS |
IBM z/OS |
| RxRaster |
? |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| AutoTrace |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| AutoVector |
? |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| BMP2SVG |
? |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| Easy Trace |
? |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| Freehand |
? |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
| Illustrator |
? |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
| MagicTracer |
? |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| MST Viewer |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| PhotoLine |
? |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
| Potrace |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| R2V Toolkit |
? |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| Ras2Vec |
? |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| Image2XAML |
? |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| GTXRaster CAD Series |
? |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| GTXImage CAD Series |
? |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| Raster to Vector |
? |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| RasterVect |
? |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| RaveGrid |
? |
Yes |
(contact authors for non-gui version) |
(contact authors for non-gui version) |
No |
No |
| Scan2CAD Pro |
using Wine |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| Silhouette Pro |
? |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
| VectorEye |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| Vector Magic |
using Wine |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
| Vextractor |
? |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| VPHybridCAD |
? |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| WinTopo |
using Wine |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| RasVector |
? |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| WiseImage |
? |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| XTrace |
? |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
| VectorNow |
? |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| Name |
Linux |
Windows |
Mac OS X |
BSD |
AmigaOS/AROS |
IBM z/OS |
Basic Features
| NAME |
Maximum zoom |
Object limit per document |
Control point limit |
Color management for print |
Thumbnails |
Adjust Image (functions) |
Text Recognition (OCR) |
Scripting support |
| RxRaster |
No Limit |
No Limit |
No Limit |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| AutoTrace |
? |
? |
? |
? |
? |
? |
No |
? |
| AutoVector |
? |
? |
? |
? |
? |
? |
No |
? |
| BMP2SVG |
N/A |
No Limit |
No Limit |
N/A |
No |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
| Easy Trace |
12800x |
No Limit |
? |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
| Freehand |
64x |
? |
? |
No |
? |
? |
No |
Yes |
| Illustrator |
64x |
? |
? |
Yes |
? |
? |
No |
Yes |
| MagicTracer |
12800x |
? |
? |
Yes |
? |
? |
No |
No |
| MST Viewer |
No Limit |
No Limit |
No Limit |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Potrace |
N/A |
? |
? |
No |
? |
? |
No |
No |
| R2V Toolkit |
N/A |
? |
? |
No |
? |
? |
No |
No |
| Ras2Vec |
? |
? |
? |
? |
? |
? |
No |
? |
| Image2XAML |
? |
? |
? |
? |
? |
? |
No |
? |
| GTXRaster CAD Series |
No limit |
No limit |
No limit |
Yes |
? |
Yes |
Yes, ICR Intelligent Character Recognition |
Yes |
| GTXImage CAD Series |
No limit |
No limit |
No limit |
Yes |
? |
Yes |
Yes, ICR Intelligent Character Recognition |
No |
| Raster to Vector |
? |
? |
? |
No |
? |
? |
No |
Yes |
| RasterVect |
No limit |
No limit |
No limit |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| RaveGrid |
No Limit |
No Limit |
N/A |
N/A |
? |
? |
No |
No |
| Scan2CAD Pro |
4000x |
No Limit |
No Limit |
Yes |
? |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Silhouette Pro |
64x |
? |
? |
Yes |
? |
? |
No |
Yes |
| AutoTrace |
? |
? |
? |
? |
? |
? |
No |
? |
| VectorEye |
? |
? |
? |
? |
? |
? |
No |
No |
| Vector Magic |
? |
? |
? |
No |
? |
? |
No |
No |
| Vextractor |
25x |
No limit |
No limit |
No |
? |
? |
No |
No |
| VPHybridCAD |
No limit |
No limit |
No limit |
Yes |
? |
? |
Yes |
Yes |
| WinTopo Freeware |
+/-512x |
No limit |
N/A |
Yes |
? |
? |
No |
No |
| WinTopo Pro |
+/-512x |
No limit |
No limit |
Yes |
? |
? |
No |
Yes |
| RasVector |
N/A |
? |
? |
? |
? |
? |
No |
? |
| WiseImage |
No limit |
More than 100 000 |
No limit |
Yes |
? |
? |
No |
Yes |
| XTrace |
? |
? |
? |
Yes |
? |
? |
No |
(Thru Amiga ARexx) |
|
Maximum zoom |
Object limit per document |
Control point limit |
Color management for print |
Thumbnails |
adjust image (functions) |
Text Recognition (OCR) |
Scripting support |
AutoCAD Features
| NAME |
Export universal DXF |
inside AutoCAD application available |
Curve recognition |
Circle recognition |
Arc recognition |
Orthogonal line detection |
Corner detection |
Line connection |
| RxRaster |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| AutoTrace |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
? |
? |
? |
Yes |
? |
| AutoVector |
No |
No |
Yes |
? |
? |
? |
Yes |
? |
| BMP2SVG |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| Easy Trace |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Freehand |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Illustrator |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| MagicTracer |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Potrace |
No |
No |
No |
? |
? |
? |
Yes |
? |
| R2V Toolkit |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| Ras2Vec |
No |
No |
? |
? |
? |
? |
? |
? |
| Image2XAML |
No |
No |
? |
? |
? |
? |
? |
? |
| GTXRaster CAD Series |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| GTXImage CAD Series |
Yes |
Yes, Developed with AutoCAD OEM |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Raster to Vector |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
| RasterVect |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| RaveGrid |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| Scan2CAD Pro |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Silhouette Pro |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
| Vector Magic |
No |
No |
Yes |
? |
? |
? |
? |
? |
| Vextractor |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
? |
Yes |
| VPHybridCAD |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| WinTopo Freeware |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
| WinTopo Pro |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
| WiseImage |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| XTrace |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
? |
? |
? |
Yes |
? |
|
Export universal DXF |
inside AutoCAD application available |
Curve recognition |
Circle recognition |
Arc recognition |
Orthogonal line detection |
Corner detection |
Line connection |
Raster Editing Features
|
Scanner support |
Freehand sketch |
Raster filters |
Change color depth |
Image resize |
Rotate |
Crop |
Raster shapes |
| RxRaster |
Yes, Smart Direct Interface with Wide Format Scanners Contex, Graphtec, Colortrac and TWAIN |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| AutoTrace |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
| AutoVector |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
| BMP2SVG |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
| Easy Trace |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Freehand |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
| Illustrator |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
| MagicTracer |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| MST Viewer |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Potrace |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
| R2V Toolkit |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| Ras2Vec |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
| Image2XAML |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
| GTXRaster CAD Series |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| GTXImage CAD Series |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Raster to Vector |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
| RasterVect |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| RaveGrid |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
| Scan2CAD Pro |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Silhouette Pro |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| Vextractor |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
| VPHybridCAD |
Yes, Direct Large-Format-Scanner interface for Contex, Colortrac, Graphtec, HP, KIP
plus TWAIN-Interface
|
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| WinTopo Freeware |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| WinTopo Pro |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| WiseImage |
Contex, Graphtec, Colortrac, SmartLF, KIP, TWAIN |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| XTrace |
N/A |
? |
Partial |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
? |
|
Scanner Support |
Freehand sketch |
Raster Filters |
Change color depth |
Image resize |
Rotate |
Crop |
Raster Shapes |
Vector Editing Features
|
Fills & hatch |
Vector combine |
Rotate & move |
Polylines |
Spline curves |
Lines to curves cmd. & vice versa |
Vector shapes |
| RxRaster |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| AutoTrace |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
| AutoVector |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
| BMP2SVG |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
| Easy Trace |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Freehand |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
| Illustrator |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
| MagicTracer |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Potrace |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
| R2V Toolkit |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
| Ras2Vec |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
| Image2Xaml |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
| GTXRaster CAD Series |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Limited |
| GTXImage CAD Series |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Limited |
| Raster to Vector |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
| RasterVect |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
| RaveGrid |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
| Scan2CAD Pro |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Silhouette Pro |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| Vextractor |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
| VPHybridCAD |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| WinTopo Freeware |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
| WinTopo Pro |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
| WiseImage |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Limited |
Yes |
| XTrace |
? |
? |
Yes (3D rotation) |
Yes |
Yes |
? |
Yes |
|
Fills & hatch |
Vector combine |
Rotate & move |
Polylines |
Spline curves |
Lines to curves cmd. & vice versa |
Vector shapes |
- AutoTrace
- BMP2SVG - Used with Accelerated I/O's Pac-n-Zoom Color to create photo quality vector. BMP2SVG is a command line utility for converting BMP files into SVG files.
- Delineate - frontend for AutoTrace or Potrace that exports to SVG
- Inkscape - conversion and creation tool (uses Potrace for raster to vector conversion)
- Potrace - cross-platform utility for tracing a bitmap into a smooth, scalable image
- Scan2CAD - Free edition of Scan2CAD. Free to use for 14 days.
Proprietary software
- Rasterex Software a.s RxAutoImage and RxSptlight
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe Streamline
- AlgoLab R2V Toolkit
- AutoVector
- Corel PowerTRACE
- Easy Trace
- Elgorithms MagicTracer
- Img2Dxf - free demo available
- GTX Corp - GTXRaster CAD Series, GTXImage CAD Series- free demo available
- Macromedia FreeHand
- Macromedia Flash
- MST Viewer
- Project5 Photocut Processor
- PhotoLine
- Rasterex
- RasterVect
- RaveGrid - a conversion program for turning Bitmap images into SVG / EPS vector notations.
- S.A. Silhouette
- Scan2CAD Raster and PDF to vector conversion software with vector and raster editing tools. Free demo avaliable
- TracTrix - from Trix Systems
- Vector Magic - from Stanford University
- Vextractor - free demo available
- VPHybridCAD from softelec - free demo available
- WinTopo Pro
- WiseImage - WiseImage and WiseImage Pro
- Xara Photo & Graphic Designer
- XTrace - from Ronny Schütz - free demo available
References
- ^ [1] WinTopo Freeware usage statement
See also