Free online PS to SVGZ converter

A browser or vector editor may require SVGZ when it cannot open printer-oriented PS files, while a website or archive may need the smaller compressed format. Converting also makes the artwork available for SVG-based editing while retaining scalable geometry where the source permits it.

What the PS format is

PS (PostScript) is an Adobe page-description language used by printers, printer drivers, prepress systems, desktop-publishing applications, scientific plotting tools, and older graphics software. A PS file contains instructions for text, paths, fills, images, page dimensions, and layout rather than a modern document model designed for interactive editing.

Its rendered appearance can depend on the PostScript interpreter, page size, included resources, color settings, and available fonts. A PS file can contain both vector instructions and raster images, so conversion does not guarantee a completely vector output.

What the SVGZ format is

SVGZ is an SVG file compressed with GZIP and normally identified by the .svgz extension. The uncompressed SVG is XML containing vector paths, text, gradients, clipping paths, and, where present, embedded or linked raster images. GZIP reduces the file size without changing the SVG data.

SVGZ is useful for web delivery, documentation, transfer, and storage when the receiving application supports compressed SVG. Web servers should normally serve it with the image/svg+xml MIME type; browser, editor, and server support should be tested before publication.

How to convert PS to SVGZ online

1. Open the PS-to-SVGZ converter on 101convert.com.
2. Upload the .ps file and choose SVGZ as the output format.
3. Start the conversion and download the resulting .svgz file when processing finishes.
4. Open the result in the target browser or SVG editor and check page bounds, text, clipping, colors, and embedded images.

This method runs without installing desktop software. Do not rename an ordinary .svg file to .svgz; the file must contain GZIP-compressed SVG data.

How to convert PS to SVGZ on a desktop

For a controlled local workflow, use Ghostscript to interpret PS and create an intermediate PDF, then use Inkscape to import the PDF and export SVG. Install both applications from their official distribution channels.

1. Convert the PostScript file to PDF with Ghostscript:

gs -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sOutputFile=intermediate.pdf input.ps

On Windows, the executable is commonly gswin64c.exe; replace gs with that name if necessary.

2. Convert the PDF to ordinary SVG with Inkscape:

inkscape intermediate.pdf --export-filename=output.svg

3. Compress the SVG with GZIP:

gzip -c output.svg > output.svgz

On systems without the gzip command, open the SVG in Inkscape and use File → Save As, then select Compressed SVG or Compressed Inkscape SVG if the installed version offers it. Inkscape's command-line export options vary by version, so exporting SVG first and compressing it separately is the most portable method.

For a graphical workflow, open the PS file in an application with Ghostscript support, save or export it as PDF, open the PDF in Inkscape, and use File → Save As to create compressed SVG. A multi-page PS or PDF document may require one SVGZ per page because SVG has no universally supported multi-page document layout.

Quality and compatibility limitations

• Fonts: If fonts are not embedded in the PS file, Ghostscript may substitute them, changing line breaks and text dimensions. Install the original fonts or convert text to outlines in the source application when exact appearance is required.
• Print features: Overprinting, spot colors, halftones, printer-specific procedures, transparency effects, and other prepress features may be simplified or changed during PDF and SVG conversion.
• Editability: Complex PDF content may become grouped paths, clipping paths, or embedded raster images. The result can remain visually accurate while being difficult to edit as clean individual SVG objects.
• Pages and bounds: Check page size, crop boundaries, clipping, object positions, and scale after conversion. Imported PDF content can include page-sized backgrounds or unexpected margins.
• Validation: Verify that the output is actually GZIP-compressed with gzip -t output.svgz. To inspect it, use gzip -dc output.svgz and examine the decompressed XML.