What's the best svg converter for mac?

Okay, so Inkscape is like the best SVG converter for mac. It's open-source and totally free. I’ve used it more times than I can count. You can import SVG files and convert them to formats like PNG, JPG, or even PDF with just a few clicks. Plus, it keeps everything looking sharp—no weird pixelation like some other converters.

If you're regularly converting images from one format to another the you need Graphic Converter

https://www.lemkesoft.de/en/products/graphicconverter/key-features/import-and-export-formats

details the 200 or so formats it works with, including SVG. It does this and a whole lot more as well.

https://www.lemkesoft.de/en/products/graphicconverter

There is always Apple's Preview application that can open SVG and export to a variety of other image formats.

Apple includes the Scriptable Image Processing System (sips) for Terminal users either from the command line or within scripts.

The following at the Terminal prompt will convert an SVG to PDF which I just did on macOS Sonoma 14.6.1:

odin: ~/Desktop % sips -s format pdf -o awake.pdf awake.svg
/Users/viking/Desktop/awake.svg
  /Users/viking/Desktop/awake.pdf

man sips
sips --help
sips -H
sips --formats

There is a command-line component to the free Inkscape that is simple in the following but can become very elaborate in its invocation. This produces an awake.png from awake.svg.

inkscape --export-type=png awake.svg

I have never tried all of them so I couldn't possibly offer which is best.

GraphicConverter (also noted by Yer_Man) has always been the goto software to convert between graphics formats.

It does do batch processing and offers a free trial. You'll have to check it out to determine the level of "bestness."

Let's keep it simple. If you just need to quickly convert SVG to PDF or PNG, you can actually use your Mac's built-in Preview app. It's more convenient than any SVG converter software. Just open the SVG file in Preview and then export it as whatever format you need. It's super straightforward, but keep in mind it doesn't have batch conversion. So, if you're just doing a quick one-off, it's solid.

Kurt,

Affinity Designer 2 (2.5.4). Created three identical 300 dpi CMYK colored squares on individual layers. Selected these and exported to SVG (selection only). Preview does not appear on the Finder Open With sub-menu, and Preview has the SVG grayed out in its Open panel.

However, since I have InkScape 1.3.2 installed, a double-click of the SVG opened it immediately in that application.

The following worked just fine though thanks to Apple's aging PDF Framework, which dropped the transparency.

sips -s format pdf -o tricolor.pdf tricolor.svg

Hi VikingOSX and Yer_Man,

Could you check something on your end? I just created a very simple .svg file (nothing but three blocks of solid color)with Affinity Designer 2, and Preview will not open it. It won't even let me select the file as it is grayed out.

Edit: Hmm, I wonder if Apple dropped all support for SVG in Preview. I saved the file as a PDF and opened that in Preview. But then neither Save As or Export gives you SVG as a choice.

Edit: Hmm, I wonder if Apple dropped all support for SVG in Preview. I saved the file as a PDF and opened that in Preview. But then neither Save As or Export gives you SVG as a choice.

I can't remember if it had support, but it doesn't for me, either.

I was incorrect in stating:

"There is always Apple's Preview application that can open SVG and export to a variety of other image formats."

Apple's Preview will not open SVG content from several sources and provides no SVG export from other opened image formats.

Ah, so it's not just me. Preview will not open or save an SVG file.