How to
How to make curved text
Curved text follows an arc or a circle instead of a straight line: the arch over a logo, the ring of words around a badge, a smile of text under a photo. Here each letter is taken from the font as a shape, turned to follow the curve, and placed along it, so the result is the same in every app you put it in.
- Type your text. Or start from a preset: an arch, a smile, a round badge or a stamp.
- Choose Arc or Circle. For an arc, drag Curve to bend it up or down. For a circle, add an optional bottom line and center text.
- Pick the font and spacing. Eleven fonts, from clean sans serifs to scripts. Letter spacing opens up tight curves.
- Set the colors. Text color, an outline, rings for badges, and a transparent, white or dark background.
- Download. PNG with a transparent background at 1x to 3x, an SVG with the letters as outlines, or copy the image.
Arc or circle?
An arc bends a single line: a gentle curve of 20 to 40% reads best over a logo or a title, while 100% wraps the line almost into a ring. A circle mode is for badges, seals and stamps: the top line runs over the top, the bottom line reads the right way up along the bottom, and the two never collide as long as the note under the preview stays quiet.
Why the SVG has no fonts in it
A normal SVG with text needs the same font on the computer that opens it, or the letters change. Here every letter is converted to its outline before you download, so cutting machines like Cricut and Silhouette, design apps and printers all see exactly what you see. The fonts are open source, under the SIL Open Font License or, for Permanent Marker, the Apache License, so you can use the outlines in commercial work.
Tip
Need the curved text as a cut file or a 3D print? Download the SVG and open it in SVG to DXF for laser cutting or SVG to STL for a 3D printer. For a crisp icon, try the favicon generator, and for word art from a list of words, the word cloud generator.
Questions people ask
Is this curved text generator free?
Yes, with no sign-up, no watermark and no limit. The letters are drawn in your browser from the font files, so nothing you type is sent anywhere. Download a transparent PNG at up to 4800 pixels wide, or an SVG whose letters are vector shapes you can scale to any size without blur.
Can I copy and paste curved text?
Not as typed characters: no font or Unicode trick bends a line of text, so curved text is always a picture or a shape. Use Copy image here and paste it into a document, a slide, Canva or a chat. Sites that offer curved text to copy and paste give you decorated letters in a straight line.
How do I curve text in Canva?
Select the text box, open Effects and choose Curve, then drag the Curve slider. That bends one line into an arc. For text all the way around a circle with a second line at the bottom, like a badge or a stamp, make it here, download a transparent PNG or the SVG, and upload it to Canva.
Will the SVG work in Cricut Design Space or Silhouette?
Yes. Every letter in the SVG is a filled shape, not live text, so it looks the same on any computer and cuts without the font installed. Upload it to Cricut Design Space as an image, or open it in a Silhouette edition that imports SVG. Script fonts can leave small gaps between letters, so weld them before cutting.
How do I make text go all the way around a circle?
Choose Circle. The top line runs clockwise over the top, and the Bottom text line reads left to right along the bottom, upright, the way badges and stamps do it. Circle size makes the ring larger or tighter, letter spacing evens out short words, and rings add one or two borders.