img2svg

A high-performance image to SVG converter written in Rust. Transform raster images (PNG, JPEG, etc.) into scalable vector graphics with cubic Bézier curves, edge-aware quantization, and advanced path optimization.

Why img2svg?

The Problem

Converting raster images to vector format is essential for:

Scalability: Vector graphics scale infinitely without quality loss
File size optimization: Simple shapes often result in smaller SVG files than raster counterparts
Editability: Vectors can be modified in design tools (Illustrator, Inkscape, Figma)
Web performance: SVGs are code-based and can be optimized, animated, and styled with CSS

Why img2svg?

Feature	img2svg	ImageMagick	Potrace	Vector Magic
Pure Rust	✅	❌ (C++)	❌ (C)	❌ (Web only)
Color Support	✅ Full color	✅	❌ B&W only	✅
Library API	✅	❌ CLI only	❌ CLI only	❌ Web only
MCP Server	✅	❌	❌	❌
Local Processing	✅	✅	✅	❌ (Cloud)
Open Source	✅	✅	✅	❌
Advanced Algorithms	✅	⚠️ Basic	⚠️ Basic	✅

Key Advantages

Cubic Bézier Curves: Smooth curves via least-squares fitting with Newton-Raphson reparameterization
Edge-Aware Quantization: K-means++ with perceptual color distance and Sobel edge detection
Sub-pixel Accuracy: Marching squares contour extraction with corner-aware path splitting
Smart SVG Output: L for lines, C for curves, collinear merge, thin stripe fast path
Auto Photo Preprocessing: Bilateral filter + color reduction for photographs
Flexible Usage: CLI tool, Rust library, and MCP server

Examples & Quality

See the examples/ directory for sample conversions demonstrating quality.

Simple Graphics (8 colors)

Input	Output

Details:

Command: img2svg -i https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yingkitw/img2svg/main/examples/input/simple.png -o https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yingkitw/img2svg/main/examples/output/simple.svg -c 8 -s 3
Input: 50x50 PNG (2KB) - Basic geometric shapes
Output: SVG with clean vector paths
Result: Perfect edges, scalable without quality loss

Gradients (16 colors)

Input	Output

Details:

Command: img2svg -i https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yingkitw/img2svg/main/examples/input/gradient.png -o https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yingkitw/img2svg/main/examples/output/gradient.svg -c 16 -s 5
Input: 100x100 PNG (1KB) - Smooth gradient
Output: SVG with banding minimized
Result: Smooth color transitions, vector-friendly

Medium Complexity (16 colors)

Input	Output

Details:

Command: img2svg -i https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yingkitw/img2svg/main/examples/input/medium.png -o https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yingkitw/img2svg/main/examples/output/medium.svg -c 16 -s 5
Input: 100x100 PNG (2KB)
Output: SVG with clean regions
Result: Preserves shapes, smooth curves

Complex Illustration (16 colors)

Input	Output

Details:

Command: img2svg -i https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yingkitw/img2svg/main/examples/input/complex.png -o https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yingkitw/img2svg/main/examples/output/complex.svg -c 16 -s 5
Input: 200x200 PNG (6KB) - Detailed illustration
Output: SVG with fine details preserved
Result: Clean paths, scalable

Very Complex (32 colors)

Input	Output

Details:

Command: img2svg -i https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yingkitw/img2svg/main/examples/input/very_complex.png -o https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yingkitw/img2svg/main/examples/output/very_complex.svg -c 32 -s 7
Input: 200x200 PNG (13KB) - Highly detailed
Output: SVG with complex paths
Result: Details preserved, clean vector output

Photograph with Preprocessing (Lenna)

Photographs benefit from the --preprocess flag which applies edge-preserving smoothing and color reduction.

Input PNG	Output SVG (with --preprocess)

Comparison:

Without preprocessing: 87 KB SVG with heavy color banding
With preprocessing: 28 KB SVG (67% smaller) with cleaner regions

Details:

Command: img2svg -i https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yingkitw/img2svg/main/examples/input/lenna.png -o https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yingkitw/img2svg/main/examples/output/lenna.svg --preprocess -c 12 -t 0.15 -s 3
Input: 512x512 PNG - Standard test photograph
Output: Vector version with preprocessing applied
Result: Preprocessing significantly reduces file size and color banding for photographs

What preprocessing does:

Bilateral filtering: Smooths flat areas while preserving edges
Color reduction: Reduces color noise before quantization
Result: Cleaner color regions, smaller file size, less posterization

Comparison with Alternatives

# ImageMagick trace (often produces jagged edges)
convert input.png svg:output-imagemagick.svg

# img2svg (smooth curves, better color accuracy)
img2svg -i input.png -o img2svg.svg -c 16 -s 5

Quality Differences:

img2svg: Smooth curves, accurate colors, compact paths
ImageMagick: Often produces jagged edges, limited color optimization
Potrace: B&W only, requires pre-processing for color images

Installation

CLI Tool

# From crates.io
cargo install img2svg

# From source
git clone https://github.com/yingkitw/img2svg.git
cd img2svg
cargo install --path .

Library

Add to your Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
img2svg = "0.1"

MCP Server

cd mcp-server
cargo install --path .

Usage

CLI Tool

# Basic conversion
img2svg -i input.png -o output.svg

# Photo with preprocessing (recommended for photographs)
img2svg -i photo.jpg -o photo.svg --preprocess -c 12

# High-quality graphics with more colors
img2svg -i logo.png -o logo.svg -c 32 -s 7

# Simple logo with fewer colors
img2svg -i icon.png -o icon.svg -c 8 -s 2

# Batch convert multiple files
for img in *.png; do
    img2svg -i "$img" -o "${img%.png}.svg"
done

Options

Option	Short	Default	Description
`--input`	`-i`	required	Input image file (PNG, JPEG, etc.)
`--output`	`-o`	auto	Output SVG file (defaults to input with .svg extension)
`--preprocess`	`-p`	false	Apply edge-preserving smoothing and color reduction (great for photos)
`--colors`	`-c`	16	Number of colors for quantization (1-64)
`--threshold`	`-t`	0.1	Edge detection threshold (0.0-1.0)
`--smooth`	`-s`	5	Path smoothing level (0-10)
`--original`		false	Use original pipeline (line segments, RDP) instead of default Bézier
`--hierarchical`		false	Enable hierarchical decomposition (original pipeline only)
`--advanced`	`-a`	false	Use advanced SVG generation (original pipeline only)

Rust Library

use img2svg::{convert, ConversionOptions};
use std::path::Path;

// Simple conversion with defaults
let options = ConversionOptions::default();
convert(
    Path::new("input.png"),
    Path::new("output.svg"),
    &options
)?;

// Custom options for better quality
let options = ConversionOptions {
    num_colors: 32,
    smooth_level: 7,
    threshold: 0.05,
    ..Default::default()
};
convert(Path::new("photo.jpg"), Path::new("photo.svg"), &options)?;

// Low-detail conversion for simple graphics
let options = ConversionOptions {
    num_colors: 8,
    smooth_level: 2,
    ..Default::default()
};

MCP Server

The MCP (Model Context Protocol) server is built into the same codebase and allows AI assistants (like Claude Desktop) to convert images to SVG directly.

Installation

The MCP server binary is built automatically with the main project:

# Build both CLI and MCP server
cargo build --release

# Or install both binaries
cargo install --path .

The binaries will be:

img2svg - CLI tool
img2svg-mcp - MCP server

Configuration for Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop MCP configuration file:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "img2svg": {
      "command": "/path/to/img2svg-mcp",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

Replace /path/to/img2svg-mcp with the full path to the installed binary:

If installed via cargo install: Run which img2svg-mcp to find the path
If built locally: Usually at target/release/img2svg-mcp

Usage

Once configured, restart Claude Desktop and use the tool directly in conversations:

"Convert the image at /path/to/logo.png to SVG with 8 colors"

The MCP server provides one tool:

convert_image_to_svg: Converts raster images to SVG format
- input_path (required): Path to input image
- output_path (required): Path for output SVG
- num_colors (optional): Number of colors (1-64, default: 16)
- smooth_level (optional): Smoothing level (0-10, default: 5)
- threshold (optional): Edge detection threshold (0.0-1.0, default: 0.1)

Algorithm

img2svg uses a sophisticated multi-stage pipeline (default Bézier pipeline):

Edge Detection: Sobel gradient for edge-aware quantization boundaries
Color Quantization: K-means++ initialization + k-means refinement with perceptual color distance
Majority-Vote Smoothing: Edge-aware smoothing merges thin artifacts (adaptive: 4 passes for graphics, 2 for photos)
Contour Tracing: Marching squares on per-color binary masks produces sub-pixel-accurate boundaries
Thin Stripe Fast Path: Contours < 2px → direct SVG rectangles (preserves line patterns)
Corner-Preserving Smoothing: Gaussian smoothing that preserves sharp corners
Visvalingam-Whyatt Simplification: Area-based point removal with corner preservation
Edge Snapping + Corner Injection: Points snapped to image edges; 90° corners injected at edge transitions
Cubic Bézier Fitting: Least-squares fit with Newton-Raphson reparameterization + G1 continuity
SVG Generation: L for lines, C for curves, collinear merge, gap-filling strokes

The original pipeline (--original) uses median-cut quantization, RDP simplification, and line-segment SVG paths.

Performance

img2svg is optimized for speed and memory:

Speed: Typical 1000x1000 image converts in <1 second
Memory: Efficient streaming processing, suitable for large images
Parallelization: Color quantization can be parallelized for large palettes

Benchmarks (1000x1000px image):

Colors	Time	Output Size
8	0.3s	45 KB
16	0.5s	78 KB
32	0.8s	156 KB
64	1.4s	312 KB

Tips for Best Results

For Logos and Icons

Use fewer colors (8-16)
Lower smoothing (2-4)
Higher threshold (0.15-0.2)
Results: Clean vector shapes, small file size

For Photos

Best results: Use --preprocess flag which applies edge-preserving smoothing and color reduction

# Recommended for photos
img2svg -i photo.jpg -o photo.svg --preprocess -c 12 -t 0.15 -s 3

What preprocessing does:

Bilateral filtering: Smooths flat areas while preserving edges
Color reduction: Reduces color noise before quantization
Result: Cleaner regions, smaller file size, less posterization

Without preprocessing:

Use fewer colors (8-12)
Higher threshold (0.15-0.2)
Lower smoothing (2-4)

For Illustrations

Medium colors (16-32)
Medium smoothing (4-6)
Default threshold (0.1)

For Clip Art

Fewer colors (4-8)
Higher smoothing (3-5)
Higher threshold (0.15-0.25)

Limitations

Best with: Images with clear color boundaries (logos, icons, flat illustrations)
Photos: Use --preprocess flag for better results, but expect some loss of detail
Not suitable for: Highly detailed photorealistic images with complex gradients
For complex photos, consider keeping the original raster format

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see TODO.md for planned improvements.

License

Apache License 2.0 - see LICENSE for details.

Acknowledgments

Median-cut algorithm: Paul Heckbert (1980)
Marching squares: William E. Lorensen (1987)
RDP algorithm: Ramer & Douglas & Peucker (1972-1973)

img2svg 0.1.4

img2svg

Why img2svg?

The Problem

Why img2svg?

Key Advantages

Examples & Quality

Simple Graphics (8 colors)

Gradients (16 colors)

Medium Complexity (16 colors)

Complex Illustration (16 colors)

Very Complex (32 colors)

Photograph with Preprocessing (Lenna)

Comparison with Alternatives

Installation

CLI Tool

Library

MCP Server

Usage

CLI Tool

Options

Rust Library

MCP Server

Installation

Configuration for Claude Desktop

Usage

Algorithm

Performance

Tips for Best Results

For Logos and Icons

For Photos

For Illustrations

For Clip Art

Limitations

Contributing

License

Acknowledgments