Developer(s) Peter Selinger Written in C Type Vectorization | Initial release 2001 Platform Cross-platform | |
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Stable release 1.14 / February 19, 2017; 32 days ago (2017-02-19) | ||
Potrace is an open-source, cross-platform computer program which converts bitmapped images into vector graphics. It is written and maintained by Peter Selinger.
Properties
Various graphical frontends are available for the command-line application Potrace. Notably, it has been integrated with Inkscape, giving Inkscape its Trace Bitmap action. FontForge can use Potrace to import a bitmap image into a font. Potrace is also used by the music engraving program LilyPond.
Potrace's input and output is black and white (colored images are greyscaled before processing). However, Inkscape is capable of producing color images by decomposing each channel into several black and white images and tracing them separately with Potrace. The commercial Total Vectorize program also uses Potrace as its core.
The program is dual-licensed as "Potrace" under the GPL and as "Potrace Professional" in a proprietary license by Selinger's company, Icosasoft Software, Inc.