SVG for Laser Engraving Wood
Laser engraving wood requires SVG files structured for fill-based engraving, not cut paths. Wood engraving burns the surface by filling vector shapes or scanning raster lines — a fundamentally different layer structure from laser cutting.
About SVG for laser engraving wood
Laser engraving wood and laser cutting wood are entirely different operations requiring different SVG file structures. Engraving removes surface material to create a darkened, textured finish. Cutting slices through the material along a path. Using a cut-layer SVG for engraving produces an outline trace — not the filled result most wood projects require.
SVG structure for wood engraving (not cutting): - Fill engrave mode: SVG paths with a solid fill colour. The laser scans horizontal lines across the filled area, removing wood to a controlled depth and producing a clean burn fill. - Line engrave mode: paths with a stroke only. The laser follows each path once, burning a groove or line. - For logos and bold text: fill mode at 254–508 DPI produces the sharpest engraved result. - Do not use stroke-only paths if you want filled engraving — a stroke produces an outline groove, not a solid fill.
How to prepare SVG for wood laser engraving: 1. Upload the PNG design to the converter above. 2. In the output SVG, confirm fill colours are present on all shapes. 3. In Inkscape: select all paths and remove stroke (Shift+click the stroke swatch > X). Keep fill colour only. 4. Import into LightBurn, xTool Creative Space, or RDWorks. 5. Assign to a Fill layer (not a Line layer). 6. Set power and speed for the specific wood.
Recommended wood engraving settings (LightBurn, 20W diode laser): - Bass wood/plywood: 60% power, 4000 mm/min, 254 DPI - Hard maple: 80% power, 3000 mm/min, 254 DPI
Use the SVG converter above to create fill-structured SVGs for any wood laser engraving project.