Convert PNG to SVG using python

Question

Is there way to convert a png file into SVG file using only pure python or a python module such as wand?

To be more precise, I want to convert a png into a real vector graphics, I don't want to embed a bitmap inside the svg, I want to convert into graphics code.

I know this is possible with Illustrator or Inkscape, but I need an automated process.

Thank you !

Solution 1

You will need to run an external program to do the image tracing. A popular program is potrace. It is what Inkscape uses to perform the task.

There are some python bindings for it:

https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pypotrace

Solution 2

Since the potrace module is not (easily) available on anaconda on Windows, I looked for an alternative. PngToSvg works perfectly on a python 3.6 environment in Anaconda 4.8.3 on Windows 10 Pro N.

You can clone/download the repository and run python init.py and that will convert the example.png in /examples/ into an example.svg file.

Credits go to the author of the repository.

Solution 3

I would suggest using potrace for python.
Use this link: https://pypi.org/project/pypotrace/
Here is the documentation: https://pythonhosted.org/pypotrace/ref.html#

Like This:

from potrace import Bitmap

# Initialize data, for example convert a PIL image to a numpy array
# [...]

bitmap = Bitmap(data)
path = bitmap.trace()

Solution 4

I'm using https://github.com/ianmackinnon/png2svg to convert low resolution QR-Codes to SVG to print them in arbitrary sizes. It works pretty well, the codes look as expected and are scalable to arbitrary sizes.

However, 2 small (but negligible, at least for me) caveats:
- Conversion takes about a minute or so on my machine for a low resolution image (400x400)
- The file sizes are larger than they should be, compared to an optimized SVG

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Comments

[Maifee Ul Asad]

This answer referrers a repo which doesn't exists anymore

[chrarndt]

No, it doesn't. The link is working fine (for me, anyway).