What the program does

Inkscape is a free, open source vector graphics editor that runs on Windows, macOS and GNU/Linux. People reach for it when a drawing has to stay sharp at any size: logos and wordmarks, cartoons and clip art, technical diagrams, flowcharts and full illustrations. Because the artwork is stored as vector graphics rather than a fixed grid of pixels, the same file prints on a business card and on a shop window without softening. Its native format is the standard SVG file format, which web browsers and most other design tools already read.

Files move in and out through SVG, AI, EPS, PDF, PS and PNG, so artwork can travel between a browser, a print shop and another editor. The tool set is broad, the workspace stays readable while you work, the interface is translated into many languages, and anything missing can usually be added with extensions.

Around the program sits an international community of users and a large shelf of tutorials and manuals for your first drawings. Questions are answered by other users in chat and on the forum, and if you would like to give something back there are plenty of ways to take part.

The project is a member of the Software Freedom Conservancy, a US 501(c)(3) non-profit that handles its legal and financial side. Donations made in the United States are therefore tax deductible.

Who is behind it

Inkscape has no single owner. Every author keeps copyright on the work they wrote, and those same authors help decide where the program and the project go next. Alongside them work translators, documentation writers, artists, testers and moderators, whose contributions count just as much as code.

When you need to name the people rather than the program, "Inkscape's Contributors" refers to the authors and "The Inkscape Project" to the organisation; "Inkscape" on its own is best kept for the software itself.