A step-by-step guide to preparing your images for laser engraving, print-on-demand, stencils and more. No software to install — everything runs in your browser.
Drag and drop your image onto the upload area on the left panel, or click Browse file to choose from your device. Accepted formats: JPG, PNG, WEBP, BMP, PDF and Adobe Illustrator (.ai) files up to 30 MB. PDF and .ai files are automatically converted from page 1.
Select what you are preparing the image for using the five mode cards: Laser, Print / POD, Stencil, Web / Social, or B&W Art. Each mode loads a different set of starter settings automatically.
For Laser mode, pick your material from the dropdown — Wood, Slate, Leather, Glass, Acrylic, Metal or MDF. For Print / POD, choose the product type. Settings update automatically.
Use the accordion panels to fine-tune: Tone & Colour for exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows and temperature. Detail & Threshold for sharpness, noise reduction and threshold. Dithering for dot-pattern algorithms. The preview updates live as you move each slider.
Drag the centre divider in the preview area left and right to compare your original image with the processed result. Use the view buttons above to switch between Before / After, Original only, or Processed only.
Select your format in the Output panel: PNG, JPG, SVG, or LightBurn (.lbrn2). Click Process Image to generate the full-quality file, then Download to save it.
Tip: Press Ctrl + Enter (or Cmd + Enter on Mac) to trigger Process Image without clicking the button.
The Laser mode is designed to convert photographs and artwork into files your laser engraver can work with. The key decisions are: which material preset to use, whether to apply dithering or threshold, and what to export.
Good contrast, no invert. Floyd–Steinberg dithering works well for portraits. Keep threshold around 130–145.
Inverted (laser removes coating). High contrast. Threshold around 145–160. Less dithering needed.
Gentle preset — similar to canvas. Floyd–Steinberg dithering recommended. Lower contrast than wood.
Inverted. High threshold. Works best with Atkinson or Bayer dithering for fine detail.
No invert. Medium contrast. Threshold around 138–145. Clean edges important for stencil-style work.
High contrast, no invert. Sharp edges. High sharpness setting recommended. Atkinson dithering works well.
Similar to wood but softer burn. Slightly lower contrast. Floyd–Steinberg dithering recommended.
Important: Material presets are starter settings only. Actual engraving results depend on your laser machine type (diode, CO2, fiber), power, speed, focus, and the specific material you are using. Always run a test patch on scrap material before a full engrave.
Dithering converts grayscale tones into patterns of black and white dots. Because a laser can only burn or not burn (on/off), dithering tricks the eye into seeing shades of grey by varying the density of dots. This produces far better tonal gradients on wood and leather than a hard threshold does.
| Algorithm | Best for | Character |
|---|---|---|
| Floyd–Steinberg | Wood, leather, MDF — portraits and photos | Smooth, natural-looking dot distribution. Best general-purpose choice. |
| Atkinson | High-contrast artwork, anodized metal | Higher contrast, slightly more aggressive dot pattern. Crisp detail. |
| Bayer | Fast preview, regular patterns | Regular geometric grid pattern. Predictable and fast, but less natural. |
| Stucki | Smooth gradients, soft images | Very smooth error diffusion, fewer visible artefacts than Floyd–Steinberg on smooth areas. |
| Sierra | Detail retention, complex images | Balances sharpness and smoothness. Good middle ground between Floyd and Atkinson. |
| None | Simple graphics, logos, text | Uses the Threshold slider instead. Hard black and white with no dot pattern. |
Tip: When dithering is selected, the Threshold toggle is automatically disabled — they work differently and should not be used together. If you want threshold, set Dithering to None.
In the Output panel, change the format dropdown to LightBurn (.lbrn2). A note will appear confirming the file opens directly in LightBurn.
Click Process Image then Download. The file is saved as prep-my-image-laser-wood.lbrn2 (or your chosen material).
Double-click the .lbrn2 file or use File → Open in LightBurn. Your image will be placed on a cut layer with starter speed and power values for your chosen material. Adjust these to suit your machine before running.
The Print / POD mode prepares images for t-shirts, stickers, mugs, posters and general print exports. It improves sharpness, contrast and output quality without aggressive thresholding.
Select from T-shirt / Apparel, Sticker / Decal, Mug / Product Print, Poster / Wall Art, or General PNG Export. Each loads different sharpness and contrast settings.
Unless you specifically want a black and white output, leave Grayscale toggled off. POD mode works on colour images.
PNG preserves transparency and is the standard format for most POD platforms (Printful, Printify, Redbubble, Merch by Amazon). Keep the free export at 1500px for testing — high-resolution export is coming soon.
Open the Crop accordion panel. Drag directly on the image preview to draw a crop area — a rule-of-thirds grid appears to help with composition. Click Apply crop to lock it in. The crop values (X, Y, Width, Height) are shown in pixels and can also be typed in manually. Click Reset to clear the crop.
Open the Rotate accordion panel and choose 90°, 180° or 270°. Rotation is applied before all other adjustments. The preview updates automatically.
Yes. The basic export — up to 1500px, PNG, JPG, SVG or LightBurn download — is completely free with no sign-up or account required. High-resolution export (up to 3000px and 5000px) and batch processing are planned for a future paid tier.
No. Images are processed in memory and are never stored on disk or logged. Your original image is discarded immediately after processing. We do not collect personal data.
Maximum file size is 30 MB.
Check that the Grayscale toggle in the Tone & Colour panel is switched on. The material preset enables it automatically but you may need to toggle it manually if the preview has not updated. Click it off then on again to force a refresh.
Floyd–Steinberg is the best starting point for wood. It produces smooth, natural-looking dot patterns that preserve portrait detail and tonal gradients well. Atkinson is a good alternative if you want higher contrast and crisper dots. Use the Before / After slider to compare before downloading.
For photographs and images with gradual tonal changes (faces, animals, landscapes) — use Dithering. It preserves far more detail. For logos, text, simple graphics and bold artwork where you want clean hard edges — use Threshold with Dithering set to None.
Yes. The PNG output works with any laser software including LightBurn, LaserGRBL, xTool Creative Space, Glowforge and any other program that accepts image files. The .lbrn2 export opens directly in LightBurn.
Presets are starting points only — every laser machine is different. Use the sliders to adjust contrast, exposure, threshold and dithering until the Before / After preview looks right to you, then run a small test patch on scrap material before committing to a full engrave.
Use the Crop tool to crop out any unwanted elements at the edges of your image. For watermarks in the middle of an image, background removal / object removal is on the roadmap but not yet available.
The free basic export caps the longest side of the output image at 1500 pixels. For most laser engraving and POD testing this is sufficient. High-resolution exports at 3000px and 5000px are planned for a future paid tier.
Yes. Both PDF files and Adobe Illustrator .ai files (CS and later, which are PDF-based internally) are supported. The first page is rendered at high resolution automatically. Very old .ai files saved in pure PostScript format may not convert — re-save as PDF from Illustrator if this happens.