potrace 1.16. Transforms bitmaps into vector graphics. Usage: potrace [options] [filename...] General options: -h, --help - print this help message and exit -v, --version - print version info and exit -l, --license - print license info and exit File selection: filename - an input file -o, --output filename - write all output to this file -- - end of options; 0 or more input filenames follow Backend selection: -b, --backend name - select backend by name -b svg, -s, --svg - SVG backend (scalable vector graphics) -b pdf - PDF backend (portable document format) -b pdfpage - fixed page-size PDF backend -b eps, -e, --eps - EPS backend (encapsulated PostScript) (default) -b ps, -p, --postscript - PostScript backend -b pgm, -g, --pgm - PGM backend (portable greymap) -b dxf - DXF backend (drawing interchange format) -b geojson - GeoJSON backend -b gimppath - Gimppath backend (GNU Gimp) -b xfig - XFig backend Algorithm options: -z, --turnpolicy policy - how to resolve ambiguities in path decomposition -t, --turdsize n - suppress speckles of up to this size (default 2) -a, --alphamax n - corner threshold parameter (default 1) -n, --longcurve - turn off curve optimization -O, --opttolerance n - curve optimization tolerance (default 0.2) -u, --unit n - quantize output to 1/unit pixels (default 10) -d, --debug n - produce debugging output of type n (n=1,2,3) Scaling and placement options: -P, --pagesize format - page size (default is letter) -W, --width dim - width of output image -H, --height dim - height of output image -r, --resolution n[xn] - resolution (in dpi) (dimension-based backends) -x, --scale n[xn] - scaling factor (pixel-based backends) -S, --stretch n - yresolution/xresolution -A, --rotate angle - rotate counterclockwise by angle -M, --margin dim - margin -L, --leftmargin dim - left margin -R, --rightmargin dim - right margin -T, --topmargin dim - top margin -B, --bottommargin dim - bottom margin --tight - remove whitespace around the input image Color options, supported by some backends: -C, --color #rrggbb - set foreground color (default black) --fillcolor #rrggbb - set fill color (default transparent) --opaque - make white shapes opaque SVG options: --group - group related paths together --flat - whole image as a single path Postscript/EPS/PDF options: -c, --cleartext - do not compress the output -2, --level2 - use postscript level 2 compression (default) -3, --level3 - use postscript level 3 compression -q, --longcoding - do not optimize for file size PGM options: -G, --gamma n - gamma value for anti-aliasing (default 2.2) Frontend options: -k, --blacklevel n - black/white cutoff in input file (default 0.5) -i, --invert - invert bitmap Progress bar options: --progress - show progress bar --tty mode - progress bar rendering: vt100 or dumb Dimensions can have optional units, e.g. 6.5in, 15cm, 100pt. Default is inches (or pixels for pgm, dxf, and gimppath backends). Possible input file formats are: pnm (pbm, pgm, ppm), bmp. Backends are: svg, pdf, pdfpage, eps, postscript, ps, dxf, geojson, pgm, gimppath, xfig.
For detailed usage information, see the potrace(1) man page.
- Image Vectorizer, by Icosasoft Software Inc. An easy-to-use image vectorizer for Mac OS X. (Added January 26, 2014).
- Type 3.2 Font Editor, by CR8 Software Solutions. A font editor that's easy to use for Windows and Mac. (Added May 11, 2015).
- Lazeroy, by Günili Yazılım. An application for creating halftoned CMYK images and DXF files from color images. (Added June 3, 2019).
- Potrace GUI, by Rasmus Andersson. A GUI for Potrace for Mac OS X. The source code is here. (Added Sept 22, 2003).
- potracegui, by Antonio Fasolato. A GUI for Potrace using KDE. (Added Nov 29, 2003).
- delineate, by Robert McKinnon. A GUI for Potrace and Autotrace using Java. There are versions for Mac OS X, GNU/Linux, and Windows. (Added Feb 11, 2003).
- Rasterbater 1.0, by Kevin Cole. A GUI for Potrace using C#. (Added December 20, 2007).
- CR8tracer, by Allan Murray. A Windows GUI for Potrace. (Added December 20, 2007).
- DragPotrace, by Akira Sato. A Mac OS X GUI for Potrace. (English). (Added October 14, 2011).
- Vectorization.org, by Tobias Reinhardt. An easy-to-use web interface to Potrace. (Added January 26, 2014).
- SVGcode, by Thomas Steiner. A web interface to Potrace that can also do color tracing. [source]. (Added November 19, 2021).
- FontForge, by George Williams. An outline font editor that lets you create and edit postscript and truetype fonts, among others. This program can invoke Autotrace or Potrace for converting bitmaps to vector fonts. It used to be called "PfaEdit". (Added Aug 21, 2003).
- mftrace, by Han-Wen Nienhuys. A small Python program that lets you trace a TeX bitmap font into a PFA or PFB font (A PostScript Type1 Scalable Font) or TTF (TrueType) font (Added Dec 13, 2003).
- LilyPond, by Han-Wen Nienhuys and Jan Nieuwenhuizen. An application that let you typeset beautiful sheet music. It uses Potrace indirectly via mftrace. (Added Apr 22, 2004).
- TeXtrace, by Péter Szabó. A collection of scripts that convert any TeX font into a Type1 .pfb outline font. The newest version (0.50) supports Potrace via the --potrace option. (Added Apr 22, 2004).
- Inkscape, by various authors. This is an excellent SVG editor. Potrace has been integrated since release 0.40. (Added Sep 16, 2004).
- dvisvgm, by Martin Gieseking. This is a tool for converting DVI files, as generated by TeX/LaTeX, to the XML-based Scalable Vector Graphics format. (Added Aug 24, 2005).
- pocopo, by Paul Yoon. An AppleScript for processing color images, using Potrace. (Added Oct 28, 2005).
- BMP 2 EPS, by Maddis. A Potrace front end for BluffTitler users. (Added Jun 21, 2009). See also here.
- PCB, by Thomas Nau, Harry Eaton, and others. An interactive editor for printed circuit boards. (Added Jul 1, 2014).
- JJMack's Potrace Script, by John J. McAssey. A Photoshop script for creating custom shapes. (Added Dec 1, 2014).
- Stencilcreator.org, by A. Jain, C. Chen, T. Thormählen, D. Metaxas and H.-P. Seidel. A website where you can create a set of stencils from an image. A stencil is a cut-out template that can be used to paint with color onto a surface. (Added Nov 6, 2015).
- Stencil-o-Matic and Stamp-o-Matic, by Benjamin. Make stencils or stamps from pictures of your choice. (Added Mar 28, 2020).
- PDFsak, by Raffaele Mancuso. A "Swiss army knife" for manipulating PDF files, such as merging, n-upping, trimming, rotating, etc. (Added Dec 7, 2021).
- Autotrace, by Martin Weber. This program performs a similar task as Potrace. In my opinion, the output is not as nice, but it supports a much larger number of file formats, and it has been integrated with a larger number of other software packages. (Added Nov 29, 2003).
- Vector Magic. A commercial tracing tool that is available through a web interface, for a fee. Unlike Potrace, Vector Magic works for color images.
- Vectorize Now. A commercial vectorizing service where each image is redrawn by hand. Black-and-white or color. (Added Oct 31, 2015).
- GREYCstoration, by David Tschumperlé. If the examples on the webpage are representative, then this is the most astonishingly good image regularization filter that I have ever seen. It is based on a non-linear diffusion technique. It can be used for noise and artifact removal, resizing, and inpainting (which means filling in missing image regions). It works on color photographs and cartoons. (Added Feb 2, 2006).