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Convert Photo or Image to Laser Engraving — Free Online Tool

Upload any photo or image, pick a material preset (wood, leather, slate, acrylic & more), fine-tune brightness, contrast & dithering, then download a 300 DPI engraving-ready PNG for xTool, Glowforge, Ortur or LightBurn. Free, no sign-in required.

Work in Progress — this tool is functional but still being refined. Features and jig presets will expand over time.
1 · Material Preset
2 · Fine-tune
Brightness0.00
Contrast1.20
Gamma1.00

0.5–0.8 compensates for laser non-linearity.

Sharpness0.00

Dithering

None — smooth gradients
Floyd-Steinberg — photos
Ordered (Bayer) — patterns
Invert (dark materials)
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Drop a photo here

or click to browse · JPG, PNG, WEBP

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Crop tight
Remove distracting backgrounds before processing. A tight crop on your subject fills the engraving area better.
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How jig export works
The PNG is the full jig bed size. Import into LightBurn at exact dimensions and it lines up with your jig holes automatically.
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Gamma is everything
Lasers burn non-linearly. Lower gamma (0.5–0.8) compensates and prevents mid-tones going muddy. Always start with a preset.

How to convert an image for laser engraving

  1. Upload your photo — JPG, PNG, or WEBP. Portraits, logos, and high-contrast images work best.
  2. Pick a material preset — Wood, leather, slate, acrylic, and more. Each preset tunes gamma, contrast, and dithering for that surface.
  3. Fine-tune brightness & dithering — Jarvis or Stucki dithering gives the most detail; threshold works well for simple logos.
  4. Download your engraving file — A 300 DPI PNG sized for your machine. Import directly into LightBurn, xTool Creative Space, or Glowforge at actual size.

Why convert photos for laser engraving?

Lasers burn in a binary on/off pattern — they cannot reproduce continuous tone like a printer. Converting an image to laser-ready format means translating grayscale tones into a dithered dot pattern your laser can reproduce. Without this conversion, photos engrave as flat, muddy silhouettes. This free online photo-to-laser converter handles the conversion in your browser — no software to install, no account needed. Works with any diode, CO₂, or fiber laser and any software that accepts PNG files.

Materials

Good materials for photo engraving

Start with these — each has a forgiving processing window and high visual contrast when engraved.

Basswood 3mmCleanest-burning soft hardwood. Industry favorite for engraving.
Slate coastersEtches white on black — huge contrast with zero prep.
Vegetable-tanned leatherBurns clean brown. Avoid chrome-tanned (toxic fumes).
Cast acrylic 3mmFrosts beautifully when engraved. Cast cuts cleaner than extruded.
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What Makers Say

★★★★★5.0· 6 reviews
View all on Etsy →
★★★★★

"Used it with a Glowforge — engraved beautifully with no changes. I will be purchasing more digital downloads from this shop."

— Anna

★★★★★

"I was struggling with lining up my NFC business cards. I was able to not only line them up much better but also do multiple cards at once — making that job so much easier."

— Camp

★★★★★

"Excellent quality and design. Cut clean and neat!"

— LYNN

★★★★★

"Great jigs. Appreciate the time saved not having to build this from scratch!"

— Bruce

★★★★★

"Excellent quality. Item as described. Expectations exceeded."

— Michael

★★★★★

"This template made my slate coasters so much easier. 4×4 coasters from Michaels drop in easily and are easy to remove. Def worth it."

— chris

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