Can Recraft Vectorize an Image? Vectorizer vs Vector Generator

Yes. Recraft can vectorize an existing image. Its AI Image Vectorizer accepts PNG, JPG, or WebP input and converts it to SVG. Recraft also has an AI Vector Generator, which creates new vector artwork from a text prompt. Use the vectorizer when your uploaded image is the source of truth; use the generator when you want Recraft to invent the artwork.

Both routes end with vector output, but they solve different jobs. A generated flower may match your prompt without matching the flower in your logo. A vectorized logo should follow the uploaded mark, though the trace will still interpret blur, texture, and color boundaries.

The Recraft choice in one minute

• Already have an image? Use AI Image Vectorizer.
• Have an idea described in words? Use AI Vector Generator.
• Need to recolor or simplify the result? Continue on the Recraft canvas after conversion.
• Only need a trace and SVG download? A dedicated image vectorizer may be the shorter workflow.

Recraft vectorizer versus vector generator

The starting input is the clearest way to tell the tools apart.

Question	AI Image Vectorizer	AI Vector Generator
What do you provide?	An existing PNG, JPG, or WebP	A text prompt
What should the result represent?	The uploaded artwork	A new visual interpretation of the prompt
Typical job	Convert a logo, icon, sketch, or flat illustration	Create a new icon, poster element, or illustration
Main review question	Did the paths preserve the important source shapes?	Did the generated design match the brief?

Recraft's current AI Image Vectorizer and AI Vector Generator pages link to each other and make this input distinction explicit. The broader category difference is also covered in our guide to AI SVG generators and image vectorizers.

There is a third possibility that is not true vectorization: placing a raster image inside an SVG file. The extension changes, but the pixels remain. A real trace rebuilds the artwork with paths and shapes.

How to vectorize an image in Recraft

The current Recraft workflow is:

1. Prepare the image. Crop unused space, remove a background that should not become a shape, and use the cleanest source file available.
2. Upload or drag the file onto the Recraft canvas. The vectorizer page currently lists PNG, JPG, and WebP inputs.
3. Choose Vectorize. This is the conversion action for the uploaded image, not the prompt-generation flow.
4. Inspect the SVG result. Compare the silhouette, small gaps, color regions, and texture against the raster.
5. Edit if needed. Recraft currently describes recoloring, reducing the color count, background work, and other canvas edits around the vectorizer.
6. Set the export size and download SVG. Reopen the exported file in the program where it will be used.

Recraft also exposes vectorization through its API according to the current product page. That can be useful for an application or repeated pipeline, but it is a separate engineering decision. The browser workflow is enough for a one-off conversion.

What Recraft is well suited for

Recraft is a broad image-creation and editing environment. Its vectorizer fits well when conversion sits next to generation, palette work, background removal, or other image editing on the same canvas.

That combination is useful when:

• you generated raster artwork in Recraft and now need an SVG version;
• you want to convert an existing icon, then reduce or change its palette;
• the project mixes new prompt-generated assets with uploaded brand material;
• vectorization is one stage in a larger Recraft composition workflow;
• a team wants one surface for raster editing, generation, and vector export.

The integrated workflow is the advantage here. It does not mean every image should become a vector. Our guide to whether AI art needs vectorization explains why a high-resolution raster is often the right file for photos, painterly work, and texture-heavy output.

When a dedicated vectorizer is simpler

If the job begins and ends with an existing image, a focused converter can remove extra decisions. Upload the source, inspect the trace, and download the SVG for the editor or production app you already use.

PerfectVector makes more sense when you only need to convert an existing raster and plan to inspect or edit the SVG elsewhere. Use PerfectVector's image-to-vector converter when:

• you do not need prompt generation or a broader image canvas;
• the next step happens in Illustrator, Figma, Inkscape, a cutting app, or print software;
• you want to compare path construction across multiple converters;
• you need a narrow manual workflow that can later become a batch process;
• the source is already prepared and only the trace remains.

This is about workflow fit, not a universal quality ranking. The useful test is to give each tool the same source and inspect the exported paths. A converter that looks good on one flat logo can struggle with a textured illustration, and the reverse can also happen.

Prepare the source before Recraft sees it

Vectorizers respond to what is in the file, including defects you do not consider part of the art.

Use the original file

A downloaded social-media preview or screenshot has already been resized and compressed. Find the original PNG, export a fresh raster from the design app, or scan the physical art again. Better source edges give any tracer clearer decisions.

Remove accidental backgrounds

If the white paper should disappear, remove it before vectorizing or plan to delete the traced background shape afterward. Check the result on both a light and dark canvas.

Simplify the palette when appropriate

A flat logo should have intentional colors. JPG compression and anti-aliasing can turn one red edge into several similar reds. Reducing those accidental colors before tracing usually makes the output easier to edit.

Decide whether texture belongs

Grain, watercolor blooms, shadows, and photographic detail become many small vector regions. Keep them only if the destination benefits from that complexity. Otherwise simplify the source or keep it raster.

Enlarge carefully

Do not blur a small icon just to make its dimensions larger. Use the clean original or a nearest-neighbor enlargement for pixel art. For ordinary graphics, the principles in converting PNG to SVG without losing quality are a better guide than arbitrary upscaling.

Inspect the exported SVG, not just the preview

The canvas preview tells you how the file looks. The exported SVG tells you whether it is usable.

Check the silhouette. Curves should be smooth where the source is smooth, and sharp corners should remain intentional.

Check small negative spaces. Holes in letters, gaps between icon parts, and thin transparent channels can close during simplification.

Check the color list. Look for accidental near-duplicates introduced by blur or compression.

Check the node count. A simple curve should not be built from a dense chain of points. If it is, use the cleanup approach in why an SVG has too many nodes.

Check for embedded pixels. Zoom in, inspect the object structure, and confirm that the visible artwork is made of paths rather than one placed image.

Check the destination. Import the SVG into the actual print, web, cutting, or design workflow. Confirm dimensions, transparency, fills, strokes, and grouping there.

Where automatic vectorization needs help

Recraft's vectorizer, like any automatic converter, has to interpret the source. Expect more cleanup when the image contains:

• a photograph with many local color changes;
• painterly edges, paper grain, or semi-transparent washes;
• low-resolution lettering with narrow counters;
• heavy JPG artifacts around hard edges;
• tiny decorative elements that nearly touch;
• official logo geometry that cannot drift;
• a pixel grid that must remain exactly square.

Some of these need source cleanup. Some need a manual redraw. Some should remain raster. “Can the tool vectorize it?” is a different question from “Will vectorization preserve what matters?”

The practical answer

Recraft can convert an uploaded image to SVG, generate a new SVG from a prompt, and continue editing on the same canvas. Choose the Image Vectorizer when the existing raster matters. Choose the Vector Generator when the brief matters more than matching an existing image.

Then inspect the export. A useful SVG has the right silhouette, negative space, colors, path economy, transparency, and behavior in the destination app. That review matters more than which button produced the first draft.

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Want to compare a conversion-only workflow with Recraft? Run the same raster through PerfectVector, open both SVGs, and compare the silhouette, negative space, colors, and node count with the checklist above.