I have only used LightBurn with SVG files. This evening I noticed a seller selling PDF files cheap for Scroll Saw use and SVG files of the same thing at a higher price.
I thought LightBurn would load and process (cut in my case) a PDF file. Why would there need to be a different version sold at a higher price for Laser users?
SVG are math relationships and can be scaled easily.
yeah. same reason why companies that sell stock images, price resolution differently
So, is it worth spending $2 extra to get a SVG file instead of the PDF? PDF version would be $5 and the SVG version $7
As others have mentioned, SVG are vector based, which means that can be scaled to any size without loss of quality. PDFs can actually contain vector images or raster images.
Given the price differential it is most likely that the PDF you mention contains a raster image. If it is a simple image, like an outline, it is pretty easy to turn into a vector using Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape. If it is a complex image, Lightburn does a pretty good job usually, but if you want to scale up, you will likely lose quality.
There are very easy ways to convert PDF to SVG is my experience.
With some skills, you can trace anything back to SVG, but is a loss transformation in the absolute sense of the word. Compared to getting the origianl SVG
as @sensor pointed out, PDFs are often vector based and there are ways of extracting the vector drawings. If you purchase lots of designs from this designer you might see if their PDFs are just wrapped vector files, otherwise yes, the $2/ea more for the SVG is worth it.
Thanks everyone. I will pay the $2 more for both of the files. My time is worth something.