How to open an SVG file in Silhouette Studio

Silhouette Studio opens SVG files with File, Open, but only in Designer Edition or a higher edition. The free Basic Edition that comes with a Cameo or Portrait does not open SVG at all. In Basic, use the DXF version of the design, trace a PNG of it, or buy the upgrade. Once an SVG is open, check the Send panel: the design may need its cut lines switched on before the machine will cut anything.

Which editions open SVG

According to Silhouette’s own support pages:

Edition	Opens SVG	Saves SVG	Also opens
Basic (free)	No	No	STUDIO files, DXF, and JPG, PNG, BMP, GIF and TIF pictures for tracing
Designer (paid upgrade)	Yes	No	The above, and PDF
Designer Plus (paid upgrade)	Yes	No	The above, and embroidery formats
Business (paid upgrade)	Yes	Yes	The above, and AI, EPS and CDR

To see which edition you have, look at the program’s title bar or its About box, where the edition name is shown.

Open an SVG in Designer Edition or above

Unzip the download first if it came as a .zip. On Windows, right-click it and choose Extract All. On a Mac, double-click it.
In Silhouette Studio, choose File, then Open.
Find the file ending in .svg, select it and open it.

The design appears on the page, usually as a group. Right-click it and choose Ungroup to work on the parts separately.

To add an SVG to a design that is already open, without starting a new document, use File, Merge in place of Open.

Turn on the cut lines

This is the step that catches most people. A design brought in from an SVG can arrive with no cut lines switched on, and the machine then reports the job complete without cutting.

Go to the Send panel.
Click the design in the preview.
Choose Cut.

The lines that will be cut are then shown in bold. Where shapes overlap and you want only the outside edge of the whole group cut, choose Cut Edge.

If the design opens in the wrong place

Silhouette Studio puts an SVG’s contents where the file says they are, and some files place them well away from the page. To make every SVG open in the middle of the cutting area, open Preferences (in the Edit menu on Windows), choose Import, and under SVG set the document position to Centered.

The same Import section holds the other settings for how SVG files come in. If designs open at an unexpected size, check the dimensions after opening and scale the design with a corner handle, which keeps its proportions.

In the free Basic Edition

An SVG will not open, but there are three ways to use the same design.

Use the DXF file. Many cut file downloads include a DXF copy for exactly this reason, and Basic Edition opens DXF with File, Open. A DXF holds outlines only and carries no size, so check the dimensions after opening and scale the design to the size the maker states. It arrives as plain lines with no fill colours, and pieces that were separate colours in the SVG have to be told apart by eye. Check the Send panel as above before cutting. Curves in a DXF are sometimes made of many short straight segments, which is harmless at normal sizes.

Convert the SVG to DXF yourself. If the download has no DXF, the SVG to DXF page makes one in the browser, in millimetres. The free editor Inkscape can also open the SVG and save a copy as DXF: choose File, Save As and the “Desktop Cutting Plotter” DXF type.

Trace a PNG. Basic Edition can open a PNG or JPG and trace it into cut lines with its Trace panel. This works for simple shapes with clear edges. It is less exact than the SVG, because the tracing starts from pixels. If you have only the SVG, make a PNG from it with SVG to PNG, at 2,000 pixels or more so that the edges are clean.

If you cut from SVG files often, the Designer Edition upgrade saves these steps. SVG vs PNG explains why the vector file gives the better cut.

When double-clicking opens a web browser

An SVG file often shows a browser’s icon and opens in the browser when double-clicked, because browsers are the usual default program for SVG. Nothing is wrong with the file. Either open it from inside Silhouette Studio with File, Open, or change the default: on Windows, right-click the file, choose Open with, pick Silhouette Studio, and tick the box to always use it for .svg files.

Common problems

What you see	Cause	Fix
The SVG is greyed out or missing in the Open window	Basic Edition	Use a DXF, trace a PNG, or upgrade
The file opens in a browser	Browsers are the default program for SVG	Open it from File, Open in Silhouette Studio
Nothing on the page after opening	The design sits outside the page	Set the SVG document position to Centered in Preferences, Import
The machine says the job is complete but cuts nothing	Cut lines are off	Send panel, select the design, choose Cut
It cuts a rectangle round the design	The file holds a picture, not shapes	The SVG contains an embedded image: get a true vector file, or trace the picture
Lettering looks wrong	The file has editable text in a font you do not have	Ask for a version with the text converted to shapes
A DXF opens with parts missing	The DXF uses features Silhouette Studio does not read	Update the software; try a DXF saved another way
The zip will not open in Studio	A zip is a folder, not a design	Unzip it first

To see what is inside an SVG before opening it, whether paths, text or an embedded picture, drop it on the SVG viewer.

Questions

Can Silhouette Studio save an SVG? Only the Business Edition exports SVG. Other editions save in Silhouette’s own STUDIO format.

Is the upgrade a different program? No. Designer Edition is the same Silhouette Studio with more features unlocked, SVG opening among them.

Does the Cameo itself care about the file type? No. The machine receives cut lines from Silhouette Studio. The edition of the software decides which files can be opened, not the model of machine.

Where can I find SVG files to cut? The free SVG library has files made for cutting machines.