Free online DWT to EPS converter

What the DWT format is

DWT is the AutoCAD drawing-template format. AutoCAD and compatible CAD applications use it to store reusable drawing standards, including layers, linetypes, dimension styles, text styles, title blocks, layouts, units, page settings, and sometimes sample geometry or blocks.

You encounter DWT files when a company distributes a drafting standard or when AutoCAD creates a new drawing from a template. A DWT is not usually an exported drawing interchange format: it is a starting point for creating a DWG. Opening it for conversion exposes the template contents, but the resulting EPS represents only the selected plotted view or layout.

What the EPS format is

EPS, or Encapsulated PostScript, is a page-oriented vector format used by illustration, publishing, sign-making, and older prepress software. It can contain scalable paths, fills, strokes, text, and a bounding box that defines the artwork area.

EPS is useful when the recipient needs editable vector artwork or predictable output at different print sizes. It does not retain AutoCAD layers, constraints, dimension intelligence, model-space coordinates, blocks as CAD objects, or template settings. Fonts may be substituted or converted, and 3D content is generally reduced to a plotted 2D representation.

How to actually convert DWT to EPS

With AutoCAD and Ghostscript, the most dependable workflow is to plot the template to a vector PDF and convert that PDF to EPS:

1. Open the .dwt file in AutoCAD. If AutoCAD asks whether to save changes to the template, save a working copy as working.dwg so the original template remains unchanged.
2. Activate the required layout, or use model space if the output must show model geometry directly.
3. Set the page size, scale, orientation, plot area, lineweights, and plot style in Output → Plot. Use DWG To PDF.pc3 and plot to working.pdf. Select Window or Layout as the plot area as appropriate.
4. Convert the vector PDF with Ghostscript:

gs -dSAFER -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -sDEVICE=eps2write -sOutputFile=output.eps working.pdf

On Windows, the executable may be named gswin64c.exe instead of gs. Inspect output.eps in a vector application and check the page boundary, lineweights, text, and clipping before delivery.

If the AutoCAD installation provides a configured PostScript plotter, you can plot directly from Output → Plot by selecting its EPS/PostScript .pc3 configuration and setting the output filename to output.eps. The available driver names vary by AutoCAD version and installation, so use the configured EPS-capable plotter rather than assuming a particular filename.

For a no-installation workflow, the converter on 101convert.com can convert the file online for free. Upload the DWT, choose EPS as the target format, start the conversion, and download the result. Do not use this route for drawings containing confidential design data unless the data-handling policy permits uploading them.

Quality and compatibility limitations

The PDF intermediate preserves plotted vector geometry well, but it also fixes the result to a page, scale, viewport, and plot style. Select a sufficiently large paper size and the correct scale before plotting; EPS cannot recover geometry omitted by the chosen layout or plot area.

Use AutoCAD SHX and TrueType font settings carefully. SHX text may become outlines or behave differently in downstream software, while missing TrueType fonts can be substituted. For reliable typography, convert text to outlines only in a tool that supports that operation and only when editable text is not required.

EPS is primarily a 2D output. Hidden-line settings, shaded visual styles, transparency, gradients, proxy objects, raster references, and 3D views may be flattened, approximated, or omitted. Review the EPS at final size, especially where lineweights are close together or the drawing contains external references.