Extract text from HP-GL plotter files (HGL)
To convert HGL plotter files to another format, you need HP-GL Viewer or other Vector Image software.
To convert other file formats to the "Plotter Vector Graphic" file type, you need software like HP-GL Viewer or a similar tool.
The .HGL file contains vector graphics data written in Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language (HP-GL or HP-GL/2). It is primarily used to send precise 2D line-art instructions to pen plotters, large-format printers, and CNC machines like vinyl cutters (often from manufacturers like Gerber Scientific Products).
Historically, these files are generated as export or print files by CAD systems like AutoCAD or vector editors like CorelDRAW. To view them directly on a modern PC, specialized software like an HP-GL Viewer is required.
The .HGL format is a legacy, machine-instruction format, not a standard image file. Because it relies on raw coordinate plotting commands rather than pixel rendering, modern web browsers, standard image viewers, and most mobile devices cannot open it natively. Sharing an .HGL file with a client without dedicated plotter hardware usually results in an "unrecognized file type" error.
To make the file usable, conversion is necessary. For universal document sharing, convert to PDF. For modern web-compatible vector editing, choose SVG. If you need to import the line data back into another CAD system, convert to DXF. Note that layer names and original CAD dimensions are often lost during this process, because the .HGL file only stores flattened plotter pen commands.
Convert.Guru analyzes your HGL file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted HPGL, SHE, HPG, IPT, ZIP, HP, HP_ and NFC files.
If you want to convert HGL file to SVG, AI, EPS, PDF, JPG, CDR, WMF, EMF, SWF, FLA, XFL or SKETCH, you can use HP-GL Viewer or similar software from the "Plotter Vector Graphics Storage" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert AFPUB, EPS, FIG, VSD, SKETCH, VDX, AFPHOTO, PDF, AFDESIGN, SVG, VSDX or AI files to HGL, try HP-GL Viewer or another comparable tool in the "Plotter Vector Graphics Storage" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our HGL converter.