Convert PNG to AI with layers you can work in.
Trace it below to see where auto-trace breaks — then let a human deliver a layered Illustrator file with named swatches, clean anchors and live type where the font allows.
The short answer
Illustrator's Image Trace will turn a PNG into paths, and so will our instant tracer, but on a small web logo the result is a stack of unnamed, abutting shapes with a pale ring where the transparent edge used to be. If the AI file is your master artwork, a designer redraws it by hand with named layers, global swatches, minimal anchors and live type where the font can be matched, in 24 hours.
A PNG gives Illustrator pixels to trace, not shapes to edit.
A PNG is lossless, so the problem isn't compression. It's size and edges. Most PNG logos are web exports a few hundred pixels wide, with an alpha channel that fades each edge through semi-transparent pixels. Image Trace has to guess where a curve sits inside a few pixels of blur, and it often traces that fade as its own pale shape. Expand the result and you get one group of hundreds of shapes, none of them named.
An AI file is usually the master everyone else exports from, so it has to be easy to work in. We redraw each shape with the fewest anchors the curve needs, put the artwork on named layers, set every color as a global swatch so one change updates the whole file, and retype lettering in the matching font when it can be identified. Where it can't, the type is drawn as clean outlines. You get native AI plus PDF and SVG.
Upload the PNG
The largest version you have. A small export works; a bigger one works better.
We redraw it in Illustrator
A designer rebuilds each shape, matches the font and sets up swatches and layers.
Layered AI in 24h
Native AI plus PDF and SVG, with a 100% remake guarantee.
Same PNG. Two very different AIs.
| For a designer in Illustrator | Human redraw · VectorWiz | Instant auto-trace |
|---|---|---|
| Layers | Named, editable | Flattened mess |
| Type | Live where possible | Outlined blobs |
| Colors | Named swatches | Unnamed duplicates |
| Anchors | Minimal, clean | Hundreds of strays |
Before you open Image Trace.
When is Illustrator's Image Trace good enough?
When the PNG is large, has a few flat colors, and you only need it near its current size. Try the Black and White Logo or a limited-color preset, tick Ignore White if there's a background, then Expand. The tracer above gives a similar preview. If the PNG is a small web export, or the AI file will be your master artwork, a hand redraw is the safer route.
Why is there a light outline around my traced logo?
A PNG fades its edges through semi-transparent pixels so they look smooth on screen. Image Trace reads that fade as a separate, paler color and wraps it around each shape. Deleting the rings by hand is fiddly, and the curve underneath is still a guess. A redraw puts the edge where it belongs, with no fringe shapes at all.
Will the text in my logo stay editable?
If the typeface can be identified, we set the lettering as live type in that font, so you can edit it as long as the font is installed on your machine. Custom or heavily modified lettering is drawn as clean outlines instead, because there is no font to set it in.
How will the layers and colors be set up?
Artwork sits on named layers in a logical order, and every color is a global swatch in the Swatches panel, so changing one updates the whole file. If you send brand values (PMS, CMYK or hex), we build the swatches from those instead of sampling the PNG.
How fast is a PNG to AI redraw?
24 hours standard, 12-hour rush, or 3-business-day flex if you can wait, with a 100% remake guarantee.
Where this converter links.
Get an AI file that's ready to build on.
Send the PNG. A designer redraws it with named layers, global swatches and live type where the font matches, and the AI file is back in 24 hours, guaranteed.