How to upload an SVG to Cricut Design Space

To upload an SVG to Cricut Design Space on a computer, open a project, choose Upload in the panel on the left, choose Upload Image, pick the .svg file, give it a name and choose Upload. It is added to the canvas and saved in your uploaded images. On a phone or tablet the Upload button is in the toolbar along the bottom. An SVG needs no cleaning up or tracing: its cut lines are already in the file.

Before you start

Unzip the download. Cut files usually arrive as a .zip folder, and Design Space cannot open a zip. On Windows, right-click the zip and choose Extract All. On a Mac, double-click it. On an iPhone or iPad, tap the zip in the Files app. On Android, open it in your files app and choose to extract. A normal folder appears with the files inside.

Pick the right file. A download often holds the same design in several formats. Choose the one ending in .svg. On a computer its icon may be that of a web browser, because browsers are the default program for SVG. That is normal. Do not double-click it: upload it from inside Design Space.

Uploading your own files does not need a Cricut Access subscription.

On a Windows or Mac computer

1. Open Design Space and start a new project, or open one, to reach the canvas.
2. Choose Upload in the design panel at the left of the canvas.
3. Choose Upload Image.
4. Choose Browse and find the SVG, or drag the file into the upload window. Choose Continue.
5. Type a name, and tags if you want to search for it later.
6. Choose Upload.

The design appears on the canvas and is kept in your uploaded images for future projects.

On an iPhone or iPad

1. Save the SVG where the Files app can see it: on the device, in iCloud Drive, or in another storage app.
2. In Design Space, open a canvas and tap Upload in the bottom toolbar.
3. Tap Browse files and choose the SVG.
4. Type a name and tap Upload at the top right.

The image is added to the canvas. Photos saved to the camera roll will not do: an SVG is a file, not a photo, so it has to come through Browse files.

On Android

1. Tap Upload in the bottom toolbar.
2. Choose the option to select from your photo library, which also opens file storage apps such as Google Drive, and find the SVG.
3. Type a name and tap Upload at the top right.

Design Space on phones and tablets takes SVG but not DXF, the other vector format it reads on a computer.

Once it is on the canvas

It arrives grouped. A design with several layers comes in as one grouped image. Choose Ungroup to move, resize, recolour or delete the parts separately.

Layers follow colour. Design Space sorts layers onto mats by colour: layers of the same colour are cut together from one sheet. The colours come from the fills in the file, so change each layer’s colour to match the material you will use.

Check the size. Select the whole design and look at the Size boxes in the bar above the canvas. If the size is not what you want, type a new width with the padlock closed, so that the height follows.

Everything is set to cut. Each shape arrives as a cut line. To draw a layer with a pen, score it or foil it, select the layer and change its Operation.

Attach to keep the layout. When you go on to make the project, Design Space rearranges the pieces on each mat to save material. To keep pieces where you placed them in relation to each other, such as words inside a frame, select them and choose Attach first.

Why an SVG will not upload

Design Space refuses or changes files that contain things it cannot cut. Cricut’s own help pages list them:

Message or symptom	Cause	Fix
“Unsupported items” message	The file has gradients, patterns or other fills that are not one flat colour	Refill each shape with a flat colour and save again
“Unsupported items” message	The file has clipping paths	Cut the shapes to their final outline in a vector editor
“Unsupported items”, or words missing	The file has editable text	Convert the text to shapes: Create Outlines in Illustrator, Object to Path in Inkscape
“Unsupported items” message	The file has linked or embedded pictures	Remove the pictures, or upload a PNG instead and use Print Then Cut
“File too large” error	More than 5,000 paths	The design must be simplified in a vector editor
The file cannot be chosen	It is still inside a zip, or it is not an SVG	Unzip it; check the ending is .svg
It asks you to remove a background	You chose a PNG or JPG, not the SVG	Go back and choose the .svg file

If the file came from someone else and you cannot edit it, ask the maker for a version saved for cutting machines. How to make an SVG file lists what such a file needs, and the SVG viewer shows whether a file has text or pictures in it before you try.

Common problems after uploading

What you see	Cause	Fix
The design is far too big or too small	The file gives no real size	Type the width you want with the padlock closed
Pieces are scattered on the mat preview	Design Space packs pieces to save material	Select the pieces and choose Attach
The blade cuts through overlapping letters	The letters are separate shapes	Select them and choose Weld or Unite
The machine takes a very long time	Thousands of tiny shapes	Use a simpler file, or cut it larger
Fine detail tears	The design is too small for the material	Enlarge it, or choose a design with bolder shapes

Questions

Does Design Space take other formats? Yes. JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP and HEIC upload as pictures, which Design Space turns into a single cut shape or a print, or into several layers with a Cricut Access subscription. SVG and DXF upload as ready-made cut files. SVG vs PNG explains the difference for cutting.

I only have a PNG or JPG. Can I make it an SVG? Yes, by tracing it: see how to convert a picture to SVG.

Where do uploaded files go? Into your uploaded images, which you can open from Upload in any later project.

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