Adobe Express’s FREE AI Tool Converts Your Image Into Vector In Seconds

When AI image generators exploded onto the scene in 2021, many online entrepreneurs made some serious cash selling AI-generated illustrations on print-on-demand platforms.

The highest-performing content tends to be the ones that are super crisp and high-resolution. So naturally, tools that could improve the quality of AI images became popular too.

There are two main ways to get that sharp, premium look for your AI images. One option is to upscale them to a bigger resolution. But that means the file size gets crazy big. The other way is to convert the PNG or JPG image file into SVG.

Well, today, Adobe just dropped a brand new SVG converter tool that turns images into SVGs for free.

What is Adobe Express SVG converter?

The SVG converter is a new tool under the Adobe Express platform. It is a fast, free, and easy-to-use tool that converts any PNG or JPG file into SVG format.

For starters, SVG means Scalable Vector Graphics, which is a web-friendly vector file format. This means you can resize your SVG as needed without losing quality, which makes it great to use for logos, infographics, illustrations, and more.

If you’re an existing Adobe user, you’d know that the SVG converter is powered by Adobe Illustrator, which allows you to make professional quality SVG files in seconds. However, you can use Adobe Express for free without any Adobe experience.

How to use the SVG converter

First, go to the Adobe Express SVG converter homepage, sign in with your Adobe account, and click on the “Upload your photo” button.

Next, upload your image. The tool currently supports files up to 40MB in size.

Here’s the 2.13MB PNG image I wanted to convert into SVG.

I generated this image using Midjourney. For those curious about the prompt, here it is:

Prompt: A portrait of an Asian woman wearing futuristic blue and red military gear with goggles on her head, she has short black hair and bright lipstick, the background is grungy and gritty, in the style of Ashley Wood and Yoji Shinkawa, comic book art style with bold lines and ultrafine detail.

The result is a 4.23MB vector file that took approximately 20 seconds for the AI tool to convert. That was quite fast, and the result is decently good.

Understandably, some finer details are lost, but I’m impressed by how much detail is retained in the SVG file.

I wish Adobe had included a slider to adjust the amount of detail preserved in the SVG. I wouldn’t mind waiting a bit longer and having a larger file size to preserve as much detail as possible.

Can it convert a photorealistic image?

While the tool works best on vector illustrations and images with flat colors, I was curious to see how it would perform on a photorealistic image.

So, I tested it with a real photo of a dog:

The image on the right is the vector version. As expected, it struggles more with the highly detailed photo compared to the illustration. The fur texture is mostly lost, and facial features lose some definition.

However, for a free tool, it still performs reasonably well. Just keep your expectations in check for complex photorealistic images.

Using the SVG files commercially

One great thing about the images generated with Adobe Express is that you can use them for commercial purposes.

It means you can use the SVG files however you want. Here are some great print-on-demand platforms off the top of my head:

1. Readbubble
2. Etsy
3. Displate
4. Printify
5. Teespring

You can also use them in other ways like using them as graphics for your website, social media, or digital products. The vector format offers great flexibility in how you can utilize the images.

Improvement suggestions

While the current user interface is very straightforward and easy to use, there are a few improvements that I think would make it even better in future iterations.

1. A slider to adjust the level of details preserved on the vector result. By having a detail preservation slider, users could choose to prioritize either file size or image quality, depending on their needs.
2. Support for more image formats. Currently, only JPG and PNG are supported. For example, the WebP format has gained popularity in recent years due to its excellent compression capabilities while maintaining good image quality.
3. Batch upload of images. As it stands, users need to upload and process each image individually, which can be time-consuming when dealing with a large number of files.

Adobe Express’s SVG converter is already a fantastic tool in its current state, but there’s always room for improvement.

Why should you care?

The most obvious reason to use this tool is that it’s free

There are other tools that perform similar functions but come with a high price tag. It’s essential to be aware of Adobe Express’s free alternative before committing to unnecessary subscriptions.

Additionally, if you plan to print your image in a large format, I highly recommend converting it to SVG first to avoid blurry or pixelated prints.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I am glad that Adobe released this free and easy-to-use tool for everyone to use. It’s also a web-based application, so you don’t have to install anything on your system to use the tool.

I think it’s also great that Adobe separated this SVG converter functionality from Adobe Illustrator, which can have a steep learning curve for some users. This tool makes vector conversion more accessible.

If you’re one who often deals with vector images, I recommend giving this tool a try. It’s definitely something I’ll be using in my own projects.

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