Own Boss Tools

DXF to PDF Converter

Turn a CAD drawing (DXF) into a scaled one-page PDF, in your browser.

Nothing is uploaded, conversion runs in your browser.

Have a .dwg? Export to DXF from AutoCAD (DXFOUT) or the free ODA File Converter, then drop it here.

What the converter draws

Drop a DXF and the page reads every entity in model space and reduces it to flat line work. Lines, polylines (including arc segments stored as bulges), circles, arcs and ellipses come through as you would expect. Splines are drawn through their control or fit points, which is close for gentle curves and a little angular for tight ones. Single-line TEXT and multi-line MTEXT are placed at their insertion point in Helvetica at the drawing's text height, with MTEXT formatting codes stripped. Blocks inserted with INSERT are expanded with their position, scale and rotation, so title blocks, symbols and repeated details appear where the drawing put them. The result is one PDF page containing the whole drawing in black 0.5pt lines, which is what most people need when they want to email a plan, attach it to a quote, or print it from a machine without CAD software.

What it skips

Anything that is not plain geometry is left out and listed in the Skipped count after you choose a file. That includes dimensions, hatches, leaders, points, solids, 3D faces, images and proxy objects. Layer visibility, colours, lineweights and dashed linetypes are ignored, so frozen layers still print and every line is the same weight. Paper-space layouts and viewports are not rendered; only model space is drawn. If the Skipped count is high and the polyline count is low, the drawing probably relies on hatches or dimensions for its content, and a plot from the CAD program will serve you better.

Scaling and page size

The drawing is scaled uniformly so its full extent fits inside a half-inch margin on the page you pick, Letter or A4, landscape or portrait. Proportions are always preserved and nothing is cropped. There is no fixed plot scale such as 1:50; if you need a true-scale print, use your CAD program's plot dialog instead. Text is scaled with the geometry, so labels on a large site plan can become tiny on a single page. Drawings with a stray entity far from the rest will come out small, because the extent includes that stray; erase it in CAD and reconvert.

Privacy

The file is read with the open-source dxf-parser library and the PDF is written with pdf-lib, both running inside your browser tab. No part of the drawing is transmitted, logged or stored, and there is no account. The only thing we record is an anonymous event that the tool was used, so we know which tools are worth maintaining.

FAQ

Is my drawing uploaded anywhere?
No. The DXF is parsed and the PDF is drawn entirely in your browser. Nothing is sent to our server or anyone else's, so client drawings and unreleased designs stay on your machine. You can disconnect from the internet after the page loads and it still works.
Can I convert a DWG file?
Not directly. DWG is a closed binary format and the only reliable browser-side readers are licensed in a way we cannot use on a free site. Export the drawing to DXF first: in AutoCAD type DXFOUT, or use the free ODA File Converter, which batch-converts DWG to DXF. Then drop the DXF here.
Why does my PDF look different from the CAD view?
The converter draws geometry only, in black 0.5pt lines, scaled to fit one page. Colours, lineweights, linetypes, hatches, dimensions and layouts are not reproduced, and splines are approximated. Text is placed at its insertion point in a standard font, so custom fonts and rotated text will differ. For a plot-accurate PDF, print to PDF from your CAD program.
Which page size and orientation should I pick?
Landscape Letter suits most plans and elevations because drawings are usually wider than tall. Pick A4 outside North America. The drawing is scaled uniformly to fit inside a half-inch margin, so the page choice only changes how large it prints, never its proportions.