What happens when you convert DOCX to SVG
- The DOCX is opened by LibreOffice, the open-source office suite, on our conversion server, laid out exactly as it would print, and each page is then drawn by MuPDF as an SVG drawing.
- A one-page DOCX gives a single SVG; a longer one comes back as a ZIP file with one SVG per page, named page-01.svg, page-02.svg and so on, for up to 100 pages.
- Each SVG has the page's own size, so an A4 page stays A4, and scales to any size without blurring.
- Text, lines and shapes stay vectors in the SVG, so they are sharp at any zoom, and pictures are embedded in it. Letters are drawn as outlines, so they look exactly right without the fonts but can no longer be edited or searched as text.
- Text, fonts, images, tables, headers and footers appear exactly where they sit on the page.
- Where the file uses a font our server does not have, a metric-compatible one is used instead: Carlito for Calibri, Caladea for Cambria and Liberation fonts for Arial, Times New Roman and Courier New, so lines break where they did. Unusual or decorative fonts may look different.
- This conversion runs on our server: the file is uploaded, converted, and deleted together with the result as soon as the result has been sent back to you. Nothing is kept. Files up to 25 MB are accepted.
How to convert DOCX to SVG online
- Press "Choose DOCX files" and select one or more files, or drag them onto the box. Files up to 25 MB each can be converted.
- There are no settings to choose: the converter keeps everything the target format can hold.
- Press "Convert to SVG". The file is uploaded to our conversion server, converted in a few seconds, and deleted together with the result as soon as the result is sent back.
- Save each SVG with its download button. Our server has already deleted both your DOCX and the SVG by then.
Why convert DOCX to SVG?
DOCX files usually come from letters, reports, CVs and most documents shared at work. People convert them to SVG to place a page on a web page or in a design as a vector image that stays sharp at any size, or to send it to a plotter or cutting machine.
How to convert DOCX to SVG on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android
On Windows
Open this page in Chrome, Edge or Firefox, drag your DOCX files in from File Explorer, and press Convert. Each SVG is saved to your Downloads folder.
On a Mac
Safari, Chrome and Firefox all work. Drag the DOCX files from Finder onto the drop zone and the SVG files land in Downloads.
On iPhone and iPad
Open the page in Safari and tap Choose DOCX files. You can pick from Photos or from the Files app. The converted SVG appears in Files, in the Downloads folder; to put it in your photo library, open it there, tap Share and choose Save Image.
On Android
Open the page in Chrome, tap Choose DOCX files and pick them from Files or your gallery. The SVG is saved to the Download folder, where any file manager can find it.
Best settings for DOCX to SVG
There are no settings: every page is drawn as an SVG at its own size, and at most the first 100 pages are converted.
To get one page only, save just that page as its own file first, or pick the drawing you want out of the ZIP. For a document you will print or send, PDF keeps the text sharp at any size and selectable.
DOCX vs SVG: the differences
| DOCX | SVG | |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Word document | Scalable Vector Graphics |
| Type | document | image |
| Created by | Microsoft | the World Wide Web Consortium |
| First released | 2007 | 2001 |
| Compression | Lossless | Lossless |
| Transparency | n/a | Yes |
| Animation | n/a | Yes |
| Vector or raster | n/a | Vector |
| Colour | n/a | any colour, described as shapes rather than pixels |
| What it holds | formatted text, images, tables and styles in a ZIP of XML files | any colour, described as shapes rather than pixels |
| In a browser | opens in Word, Google Docs, Pages and LibreOffice Writer | renders natively in every browser |
| Common uses | letters, reports, CVs and most documents shared at work | logos, icons, charts and illustrations on the web |
| MIME type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document | image/svg+xml |
About DOCX and SVG files
What is a DOCX file?
DOCX has been Word's default format since 2007. Like XLSX it is a ZIP archive of XML files, which is how its text can be read without Word.
What is an SVG file?
SVG describes shapes as text instructions, so it stays sharp at any size and a simple logo can be under 5 KB. Turning it into pixels fixes it at one resolution, so choose the output size before converting.
DOCX to SVG not working? Common problems
- "Files up to 25 MB can be converted." Server conversions have a size limit. Compress the images inside the file, or split it, and try again.
- "The conversion took too long and was stopped." Very long or complex files can pass the 90 second limit. Split the file and convert the parts.
- The file will not convert. It may be password protected, damaged, or saved in a newer or unusual version of the format.
Convert DOCX to SVG from the command line
LibreOffice and MuPDF do the same on your own computer: the first command makes a PDF, the second writes one drawing per page.
soffice --headless --convert-to pdf input.docx
mutool draw -F svg -o page-%d.svg input.pdfConverting on your own computer keeps the file entirely local, which is worth it for very large or very sensitive documents. For everything else, the converter on this page does it without installing anything.
DOCX to SVG converter FAQ
Will I lose quality converting DOCX to SVG?
Text, lines and shapes stay vectors, so the SVG is sharp at any zoom, and pictures keep the resolution they have. The letters are outlines, so the text can no longer be edited or searched.
Why is the SVG a different size from the DOCX?
An SVG page stores every letter as an outline, so pages full of text make files of a few hundred kilobytes, usually larger than the DOCX.
Are my DOCX files uploaded?
Yes, for this conversion. A faithful DOCX to SVG conversion needs LibreOffice and MuPDF, two open-source tools, which cannot run in a browser. The file travels over an encrypted connection, is converted in a private temporary folder, and is deleted together with the SVG as soon as the result has been sent back to you. We do not keep, read or share it.
Can I convert several DOCX files to SVG at once?
Yes. Select or drop as many files as you like; they are converted one after another and each gets its own download button.
How do I open an SVG file?
SVG renders natively in every browser. SVG is common for logos, icons, charts and illustrations on the web.
Is this DOCX to SVG converter free?
Yes. There is no sign-up and no watermark. Because this conversion uses our server, there is a fair-use limit of 25 MB per file and a number of files per hour, which stops the service being overloaded.
Can I convert DOCX to SVG on my phone?
Yes. It works in Safari on iPhone and iPad and in Chrome on Android. The conversion happens on our server, so it is as fast on a phone as on a computer; the SVG is saved to your Downloads folder.