Today’s Question: I want to convert a PNG to SVG in Photoshop. I have tried many ways but always the stumbling block is that when reaching “Export as” I only am offered only PNG, JPG, and GIF formats, no SVG.
Tim’s Quick Answer: Photoshop no longer supports saving in the SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) file format, but there is a workaround involving copying code for a layer and saving that to a text file.
More Detail: The Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format is for vector graphics, whereas Photoshop is primarily a raster graphic application (especially in the context of photographic images). Vector graphics involve definitions of shapes rather than the use of individual pixels, enabling illustrations to be scaled infinitely with no loss in quality. Several years ago, Adobe discontinued support for the SVG file format in Photoshop, but there is a workaround that enables you to save individual layers as SVG files.
Start by opening an image opened in Photoshop that includes one or more vector layers, such a s shape or text layer. Then right-click on the layer title (not the thumbnail for the layer) on the Layers panel and choose “Copy SVG” from the popup menu.
Next, paste into a blank plain text document, such as by using TextEdit on Macintosh Notepad on Windows. Save the file in the plain text format but change the filename extension to .svg, which will result in a true SVG file complete with vector data.
Adobe also offers an online tool for converting JPEG or PNG images to SVG. It is free to use, but you need to sign in with an Adobe ID to be able to download the SVG image. You can find that converter here:
https://new.express.adobe.com/home/tools/convert-to-svg
Another option, of course, would be to use Adobe Illustrator for creating and saving vector graphics, since this is the primary focus of Illustrator to begin with. Illustrator natively supports saving vector files in the SVG file format.
