Kerfview

LightBurn file viewer · nothing uploaded

Convert a LightBurn file to DXF.

Get a clean DXF out of a .lbrn2 or .lbrn project for CAD, a CNC router, a cutting service or older laser software, with each LightBurn layer on its own DXF layer.

or drop a .lbrn2 or .lbrn anywhere on the page

Sample project

hive-coasters.lbrn2

Job sheet

Why DXF

DXF is the format almost every CAD program, CNC router controller and laser cutting service accepts. If you need to measure a part properly, change it in CAD, or send it to a shop that doesn't use LightBurn, DXF is usually what they ask for.

What's in the DXF

  • The R12 dialect (AC1009), the oldest and most widely read version of DXF. Very old and very new programs both open it.
  • One DXF layer per LightBurn layer, named after it, for example C02_Cut_3_mm_birch. Each uses the nearest standard CAD colour to the LightBurn colour.
  • Millimetre units, marked in the file header, with the design moved so that its bottom-left corner sits at 0,0.
  • True circles where the design has circles, so CAD measures their diameter exactly.
  • Curves as fine polylines. R12 has no spline or Bézier entity, so curves are split into straight segments that stay within 0.01 mm of the true curve, far finer than a laser beam.

What it leaves out

DXF can't hold pictures, so embedded images are left out and the file says so in a comment. Fill settings, speed and power have no place in DXF either. If the project has text without a saved outline, it becomes a DXF TEXT entity at the right place and height, drawn in whatever font the CAD program picks.

If it imports at the wrong size

Some programs ignore the units in a DXF header and assume inches. If the design arrives 25.4 times too big or too small, set the import units to millimetres in that program's import dialog. The size shown on this page is the size the parts should be.

DXF is part of the unlock

Viewing, inspecting and SVG export are free. DXF export is part of a one-time unlock that also adds batch conversion and the printable job sheet. If you only need to get a design into Inkscape, Illustrator or most laser software, the free SVG is usually enough.

Layers and settings

In the order LightBurn runs them. Untick a layer to hide it here and leave it out of exports.

Layers in this project with their cut settings
ShowLayerModeSpeedPowerPassesIntervalShapesPath lengthTime, est.

Grey italic values aren't saved in the file. A .lbrn2 leaves out values that match LightBurn's defaults, so the documented defaults are shown (100 mm/s, 20% power, 0.1 mm interval, one pass). Speeds are stored in mm/s; hover a speed for mm/min. Times assume the head always moves at full speed, so real jobs take longer; see how they're worked out.

Export

Only the layers that are switched on are exported. Files are made in your browser.

Free

SVG

For Inkscape, Illustrator, xTool Creative Space, the Glowforge app and LightBurn itself. Layers become groups in LightBurn's colours, at real size in millimetres.

Fill layers as

Unlock

DXF

For CAD, CNC routers, cutting services and older laser software. R12 DXF, one DXF layer per LightBurn layer, millimetres, true circles. Pictures can't go in a DXF, so they're left out.

Part of the £6 unlock, coming soon.

Free

Pictures

Images embedded in the project, and the preview LightBurn saved with it, can be saved as PNG files on their own.

See the pictures

Pictures in this file

Shown at their own size. The original file name is what the designer's computer called the picture.

Job sheet

One printed page for whoever runs the laser: the design, every layer's settings, sizes, and the time estimate with its assumptions. Choose Save as PDF in the print window for a file.

Printing the job sheet is part of the £6 unlock, coming soon. The preview is free to look at.

One-time unlock

DXF, batch conversion and job sheets

Viewing, inspecting and SVG export are free and stay free. The unlock adds the things that save a workshop time.

  • DXF export of any project, layer by layer.
  • Batch conversion: drop many .lbrn2 files, or a ZIP of them, and get one ZIP back with SVG and DXF for each, plus a CSV of every layer's settings.
  • Printable job sheets with settings, sizes and time estimates.
  • One payment, no account, no subscription. Your files still never leave your computer.

£6 once

Coming soon

It isn't on sale yet, so there's nothing to pay today. Everything free on this page works now.

How sure is each number?

Read straight from the file

Layer names, modes, speeds, powers, passes and intervals are exactly what the file says, apart from values shown in grey italics, which the file leaves out and LightBurn fills with its defaults. Shape counts are exact.

Measured from the shapes

Sizes and path lengths are measured from the geometry, with curves followed to within a few thousandths of a millimetre. Text without a saved outline has no exact shape, so it isn't measured, and you'll see a note when that happens.

Estimated, and labelled

Times assume the head always moves at the layer's speed. Lines take length × passes ÷ speed; fills sweep each row from the first edge to the last at the line interval; images scan their whole frame. Acceleration, overscan and travel aren't counted, so real jobs take longer, sometimes a lot longer.