How to convert a JPG logo to a vector file

A JPG logo works on a website. On a shirt, a sign or a banner, it falls apart: the edges go soft, a box shows around it, and the colors don't quite match. Here is how to get a vector file, starting with the shortcut most people skip.

A design from a JPEG and a 6× close-up of one edge: the JPEG pixels on the left, a clean vector edge on the right — One edge of a JPEG design at 6×, before and after.

One edge of a JPEG design at 6×, before and after.

Start by asking for the original file.

Every logo was made in a design app first. If a designer, an agency or a print shop made yours, they likely still have it as an AI, EPS, SVG or PDF file. Ask for “the vector file of the logo” by those names. It costs one email, and it gives you the exact original: real curves, the brand's colors and, often, the font.

If that file is gone, you have three ways to make a new one.

Why a JPG logo looks rough when you enlarge it

It has a fixed number of pixels. A logo saved at 600 px wide has enough detail for a web page, not for a print 10 inches wide.
JPG compression smudges edges. It saves space by throwing away fine detail, and the sharp edges of letters are where it shows: speckles, halos and blocky steps.
It has no transparency. A JPG always has a background, usually white, which prints as a box.
Its colors drift. Compression turns one brand red into many slightly different reds.

A vector file fixes all four. It is made of shapes, paths and curves filled with flat colors, so it has no pixels to run out of, no background unless you add one, and exactly the colors you set.

A raster edge is a staircase of pixels; a vector edge is one curve.

Option 1: redraw it in flat colors with Optracy.

Optracy is made for this kind of art. Logos usually have a few solid colors and clean shapes, which is exactly what comes out:

Use the largest copy you have. More pixels mean more detail to keep. Check your email, old invoices, your website files and social media headers.
Upload it and crop to the logo. Leave out anything around it, such as a slogan you don't need.
Set the number of colors to the logo's colors. A two-color logo on white is three colors, background included. Use the chips to pick the count, then merge any stray shade into the color it belongs to.
Type the brand's hex values. Select a color group and type its exact value, so your red is the brand's red on every file.
Remove the background. One button hides the background color; the vector files leave it out and the PNG is transparent there.
Look closely before you download. Turn on the loupe to peek at the original under the pointer and compare it with the result around it. The editor shows a color map; the downloaded file is sharper at small details.
Download the vector file you need. SVG, PDF and EPS hold the same shapes. One image is one download, so you can take all three.

Option 2: trace it yourself in Illustrator or Inkscape.

Adobe Illustrator's Image Trace and Inkscape's Trace Bitmap (under the Path menu; Inkscape is free and open source) both turn a bitmap into vector paths. They put every setting in your hands: thresholds, number of colors, how closely curves follow the pixels. That is useful when you already work in those apps and want to fine-tune the shapes yourself. Expect to spend time on the settings and on cleaning up the result by hand.

Option 3: rebuild it by hand.

If the logo must match brand guidelines exactly, rebuild it in a design app: draw the shapes over the JPG as a guide, retype the text in the real font, and use the official color values. It is the slowest way and the only one that gives you the original back, letter for letter.

Text in a logo becomes shapes.

Any redraw, whether by Optracy, Illustrator or Inkscape, turns letters into shapes. They look the same, but you can't edit them as text or change the font. If you will need to change the wording, find out which font the logo uses and retype it in your design app.

Which vector file to use where

SVG for the web, for Figma, and for editing in Illustrator or Inkscape.
PDF for print shops and anyone who asks for “print-ready artwork”. Optracy can make the PDF page the real size you set, in inches or millimeters.
EPS for older design software and sign makers who still ask for it.
PNG at 300 dpi when a platform wants pixels, such as a print-on-demand store.

When this is the wrong approach

If your logo is a photo, or depends on soft gradients, glows or shadows, a flat-color redraw will band them. Keep the largest original you have, or rebuild those effects by hand in a design app. And if the logo is not yours, get permission before you turn it into a file for print.

Sources

Checked on Oct 6, 2026.

Inkscape, Tracing bitmaps
Adobe, Image Trace presets for Illustrator