A DWG arrives from an architect, a surveyor or a machine supplier and there is no AutoCAD on your computer. Or it is the other way round: you work in CAD and the client, the site manager or the building authority wants something they can open on a phone. A PDF solves both. Upload the DWG above and you get a PDF with the drawing as vector graphics, so a detail stays sharp no matter how far you zoom in.
How our converter turns a DWG into a PDF
The conversion has two steps. First our converter reads the DWG and runs an audit that repairs common database errors. Then it draws the repaired drawing into a PDF. Lines, arcs, polylines, hatches, dimensions and blocks come out as vectors, not as a picture.
DWG files from Release 12 up to the current format are read. The current format arrived with AutoCAD 2018 (internal code AC1032) and Autodesk has not changed it since, so a file saved in AutoCAD 2026 converts the same way as one from 2018.
What ends up in the PDF and what does not
- Model space only. We draw the model space, where the geometry lives. Layout tabs (paper space with the title block, viewports and plot scale) are not rendered. If the title block sits in a layout, it will not be in the PDF.
- One page, not to scale. The whole model space is fitted onto a single landscape page of about 163 × 122 mm on a white background. It is not plotted at 1:100 or onto an A3 sheet. You can still zoom into every detail, because the content is vector.
- Colours. Colour 7 (white on a black CAD screen) prints black, every other colour stays as it is. Plot style tables (CTB/STB) are not applied, so a monochrome plot setting is ignored and yellow lines remain pale yellow.
- Lineweights. Lineweights set on layers or objects are drawn in millimetres. Objects without one get the default 0.25 mm. In a dense drawing on a small page this can look heavy until you zoom in.
- Text. Text is drawn as filled outlines. It looks right, but you cannot select or search it in the PDF. SHX fonts such as txt, simplex or romans are replaced with similar TrueType fonts, so text width can differ slightly from what you see in AutoCAD.
- Layers. Layers that are switched off or frozen are not drawn.
- Linked files. Only the uploaded DWG is converted. External references (xrefs) and attached raster images such as an orthophoto or a scanned plan are not included. A missing image appears as a frame with its file name, an embedded Excel table (OLE object) as a grey rectangle.
- 3D. The PDF shows the model from above. 3D solids may be missing or simplified.
Common problems
The PDF is empty or the drawing is a tiny dot
The page is fitted to everything in model space. One stray point or line a few kilometres away from the drawing is enough to shrink the real content to a speck. In CAD, ZOOM Extents shows such objects; delete them and convert again. A completely empty page usually means that model space holds nothing and everything was drawn in a layout, or that the content is only in xrefs.
Parts of the drawing are missing
Almost always xrefs or images that stayed on the author's disk. Ask for a file with xrefs bound into the drawing (XREF palette, Bind), then convert that file.
I need a to-scale print on A3 with the title block
That is a plot of a layout, and it should be made in a CAD program. If you do not own one, Autodesk's free DWG TrueView for Windows opens DWG files and plots layouts to PDF with the paper size, scale and plot style the author set up. For drawings submitted to a building authority this is the right route.
When to use which tool
If you have AutoCAD or another CAD program, plot from the layout. Our converter is for the other cases: a quick look at a drawing on a Mac, a Linux machine or a phone, checking what a supplier sent before you install anything, or turning up to 10 drawings into PDFs at once. Files are processed on our servers in the Czech Republic; uploads are deleted right after conversion and results after 14 days.
If you need to edit the drawing rather than view it, convert it from DWG to DXF, which free CAD programs and CAM software open more reliably.
DWG and PDF in brief
| DWG | ||
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | editable CAD drawing | document for viewing and printing |
| Specification | proprietary, not published by Autodesk | open standard ISO 32000 |
| Contents | geometry in real units, layers, blocks, layouts | pages with vector graphics and text |
| Opens in | CAD software or a DWG viewer | any browser or PDF reader |
DWG has been AutoCAD's native format since AutoCAD 1.0 in 1982. Autodesk never published its structure; the specification other programs use had to be reverse-engineered, as the Library of Congress format description explains. More on both formats: DWG and PDF.