Convert DWG to SHP (shapefile)

To convert DWG to SHP, load the drawing into a GIS program such as QGIS or ArcGIS Pro and assign the coordinate system it was made in. Then export each geometry type as its own shapefile. This site does not export shapefiles; it opens the DWG in the browser so you can see its layers and coordinates first.

What changes between DWG and a shapefile

A DWG mixes everything in one file: lines, closed polylines, blocks, text, and hatches, sorted into layers. A shapefile holds exactly one geometry type, points or lines or polygons, plus a table of attributes. So one drawing usually becomes three or more shapefiles, for example parcels as polygons, road edges as lines, and survey marks as points.

The second difference is location. A DWG has coordinates but no record of which coordinate system they belong to. A shapefile carries that in a .prj file. If nobody assigns it, the data lands off the coast of Africa at 0,0 or sits at the wrong scale in the GIS map.

DWG to SHP with QGIS

1. In QGIS open Project > Import/Export > Import Layers from DWG/DXF. Pick the DWG, choose a GeoPackage file to store the result, and set the coordinate reference system the surveyor used (for example a State Plane or UTM zone).
2. Tick "Expand block references" if symbols such as trees or manholes are blocks, then click Import. QGIS adds point, line, and polygon layers.
3. Filter by the original CAD layer if you only need part of the drawing: the layer name is kept as an attribute.
4. Right-click each layer, choose Export > Save Features As, set the format to ESRI Shapefile, and save.
5. Open the shapefiles over a basemap to confirm they sit in the right place.

Lines that look closed in CAD sometimes arrive as lines, not polygons. Run Vector > Geometry Tools > Lines to Polygons on them before export.

In ArcGIS Pro

ArcGIS Pro reads DWG directly as a CAD dataset with point, polyline, polygon, and annotation feature classes. Use the Export Features tool on each class you need, or the CAD to Geodatabase tool for the whole drawing at once. If the DWG has no coordinate system, define one with the Define Projection tool on the CAD dataset first; a world file can also shift and rotate drawings drawn in local coordinates.

Civil and mapping toolsets for CAD can export to SHP straight from the drawing when a coordinate system is assigned in it. That route keeps object data as attributes, which is useful for utility networks.

Online DWG to shapefile converters

Web converters can turn a DWG into zipped shapefiles in one step. They work well for clean drawings, but they cannot know the coordinate system, so you still have to assign it in your GIS. They also upload the drawing, which matters for site surveys and infrastructure plans that are not public.

If your goal is Google Earth rather than GIS analysis, DWG to KML covers that export.

Look at the drawing before converting it

Drop the DWG on dwgviewer.app before you start. The layers panel shows which layers hold the parcels and which hold annotation, so you can plan which shapefiles to make. Measuring a road width or a lot frontage tells you whether the drawing is in feet or meters, which you need when picking the coordinate system. Nothing is uploaded; the file stays in your browser tab.

For details of what a DWG stores, see what is a DWG file. Other conversions are listed on the DWG converter page.

Frequently asked questions