Glyph File Converter

Convert GDSII, OASIS, DXF, DWG, CIF, and SVG mask and CAD files to each other entirely inside your browser. Conversion runs as JavaScript on your own machine — there is no server anywhere in this path, so the file you drop in is never uploaded, not even briefly.

Which conversions are supported

The table below is the full matrix the converter supports: source format down the left, output format across the top. Supported means the target format carries the source's geometry, hierarchy, and text without a structural change. Geometry-scoped means the output format still carries every shape, but flattens or restructures something the source had — see what geometry-scoped means below for the specifics per format.

DXF-to-DXF isn't a real conversion — the "Binary → ASCII only" cell means the widget uses that pair just to turn a binary DXF file into an ASCII one (or the reverse), since Glyph reads and writes both variants.

Cells linked above are one of the eight most-searched pairs, each with its own worked walkthrough, loss table, and FAQ. Every other cell in the table is already supported by the widget above — the linked subset is just where a dedicated page exists today.

What "geometry-scoped" means

GDSII and OASIS both model a full hierarchical layout — cells, instance references (SREF/AREF), polygons, paths, and text as text — so converting between them, or into them from any other format, keeps that structure intact. The other formats can't all express the same things:

• DXF — Glyph's DXF writer emits only TEXT, LWPOLYLINE, and INSERT. Every arc, circle, ellipse, spline, hatch, and solid is flattened to a polyline first. Layers become L{layer}D{datatype} names (DXF has no separate datatype field), and 1 drawing unit is fixed to 1 nanometre.
• CIF — widened paths are stroked to polygons rather than emitted as CIF's wire primitive, magnified references are flattened (a CIF call carries no scale), and large arrays are decomposed into a synthetic row of calls.
• SVG — a presentation format: layer colour and stacking order survive, but the GDS layer/datatype numbers themselves don't map onto anything in SVG.
• PNG — a raster. Every vector edge becomes pixels at whatever width you choose; there's no way back to editable geometry from a PNG.
• EPS — presentation-only, like SVG, and additionally has no alpha channel: a partially transparent layer is flattened onto the page background at write time.

Two things hold for every target, including GDS and OASIS: construction shapes and persistent dimensions never export (there's no primitive for them in a fabrication mask), and text stays a text element — every writer emits the target's own text primitive, so an imported font's outlines are not embedded and the reader substitutes a font of its own. If you need the exact glyph shapes as geometry, flatten the text to polygons in the editor before converting.

Honest limits

• Damaged GDS is reported, not silently dropped. A missing ENDLIB, a corrupt record (with the byte offset where it went wrong), unconsumed bytes after the last record, or dropped NODE elements all surface as warnings alongside your download — the converter never hands back a quietly truncated file.
• .dxb is refused by name. It's a different, undocumented binary format from DXF (both ASCII and binary DXF are supported) and Glyph doesn't decode it.
• There's a file-size ceiling. Above roughly 50 MB the converter warns you before proceeding; above roughly 200 MB it refuses outright, so a huge design can't stall or crash your browser tab. Open large designs in the full Glyph editor instead, where the same parsers run off the main thread.
• DWG reading has its own documented gaps — DIMENSION entities aren't decoded, HATCH reduces to its boundary loops, and fit-point splines are flattened to a visually close (not proven byte-identical) polyline. These are read-side limits of the DWG format support itself, independent of whichever output format you pick.
• One conversion at a time. The converter refuses a second file while one is already in flight, rather than racing two conversions against each other.

For the engineering behind these formats, see DXF vs GDSII, GDSII vs OASIS, and GDSII to SVG.

Need to inspect or fix something first?

The converter is one-shot: drop a file in, pick a format, get a download. If you need to look inside a file, repair damaged geometry, or edit layers before exporting, open it in the free Glyph editor instead — it reads and writes all the same formats, with the full canvas, layer, and DRC tooling behind it, and the same zero-upload guarantee.

Frequently asked questions

Does converting a file upload it anywhere?

No. The converter runs entirely in your browser, using the same parse and export code as the Glyph editor. There is no server anywhere in this path — your file is read, converted, and written back to your own disk without ever being sent over the network.

What's the largest file I can convert?

The converter warns above roughly 50 MB and refuses above roughly 200 MB, checked before it reads a single byte of the file, to keep your browser tab from running out of memory. For very large designs, open them in the full Glyph editor or a desktop tool instead.

What happens if my GDS file is truncated or damaged?

The converter reports it rather than staying quiet. A missing ENDLIB, a corrupt record (with its byte offset), unconsumed trailing bytes, or dropped NODE elements all surface as warnings next to your download.

Can I normalize a binary DXF file to ASCII DXF?

Yes. Glyph reads both the binary and ASCII DXF variants, so turning a binary .dxf into an ASCII one is one of the things this tool can do.

Why is DWG only ever an input, never an output?

Glyph's DWG support is a reader only — there is no DWG writer. Convert a DWG drawing to GDSII, OASIS, DXF, CIF, or SVG here; to go the other direction, use a CAD tool that writes DWG.

Is this the same converter code as the Glyph editor uses?

Yes, exactly. There is no second, separate parser or writer for this page — it calls the identical parse and export routines that back File > Open and File > Save in the editor.