Kristi, please share the original source image for the team to review.

I have used image trace every day for a decade. I make a black and white drawings in Clip Art and then bring the jpg to Illustrator and run image trace over it to turn the image into a vector art. After the update, when i try to turn architectural drawings of buildings into vector art--i can't get straight lines or 90-degree corners for the life of me (everything is so distorted), even if the source image has nice linework. I ended up using a free converter online tool (convertio) and it turned the jpg to eps so much better than the Illustrator image trace.

Hi Archit.

I’ve checked again today, and the 2025 version still doesn’t deliver the same level of quality as the 2024 release.

Do you have a rough estimate of when this issue might be resolved?

Also, just to clarify—will I be able to continue using the 2024 version without worrying that it will be removed from my system? I’m currently in the middle of a project that relies on the Image Trace feature, and I need to maintain the quality I’m getting from the 2024 version.

Thank you!

To be fair, I can’t tell what is the difference. I mean it! I see some sport you marked, but can’t tell if I notice something specific there.
Then you say 'sharp' and 'blurry', regarding vectors... does this mean you refer to how these are rendered on screen? or do you use these to somehow describe Bezier paths Image Trace produces? Vector can’t be blurry...
'Uneven' is something I can totally get and I think I can spot the 'strokes' don’t have the same weight... Am I right though thinking these are not actual strokes, but fills?

Anyway, some changes were indeed made to the algorithm. But to investigate it further the team would need more details on the settings used and both the original image and the traced results — both before 29.5 and after.
Please share these here in comments if this is OK with you to share it publicly, or send them to sharewithai@adobe.com (in this case mention the link to the report for backtracking: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447/suggestions/49820743)
Thanks for reporting this.

Hi everyone,

I updated Illustrator to version 29.5 yesterday, and since then, I’ve been having issues with image tracing.
I can no longer get a clean black and white vector trace like I used to.

As you can see in the example above, my image outlines used to be very sharp and well-defined.
Unfortunately, since the update, the results have become irregular, with blurry and uneven lines.

I’ve tried several methods to fix the issue, but nothing seems to work.
As a clothing designer, this is really preventing me from working properly, and I’m feeling quite stuck.

If anyone has a solution to this problem, I’d be extremely grateful. Thank you in advance for your help!

Thank you for contacting me.
No matter how much I change the settings, it remains rough. Even when I set the path to 100%, it is still rough.
I think you'll understand if you try it for yourself.

The same report at this one:
画像トレースのパスが粗すぎる
http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447/suggestions/49374704

Won’t be merged at the moment to allow better visibility.

I've encountered a significant disparity in output quality between 2025 and 2024 in Image Trace while working with the same file and identical settings.

Despite replicating the exact setup, the results in the latest version are noticeably inferior.

The image trace function in recent upgrades has been beyond disappointing. Adobe Streamline and Illustrator version 5.5 were absolutely fantastic for converting hand drawn, black and white cartoon illustrations to vector format for printing etc. As a freelance cartoonist, I’ve been forced to use Inkscape v 1.3.2 a free application off the internet for this feature now because the Illustrator image trace function is pretty much unusable. Any fine details just get ignored, and tracing raster images at ridiculous resolutions (900, 1200dpi) doesn’t work either no matter how much tweaking of the controls. With all the current technology, how could it get so bad? Please fix it, or please bring back Streamline.

Image trace has been fairly low fidelity since I upgraded from CS5 to CC, but in the last few years especially I've noticed an extreme downturn in the quality of the basic settings for live trace. In previous versions(CS5, CS6) the basic settings were high quality enough to provide good traces of artwork. I used to be able to live trace type without much of an issue if the image was large enough; I don't even do that now because even if it's set at 1500dpi the type will come in with irregular shapes or curves that should be straight/straight lines that should be curves.

There's a website called Vectorizer.ai that without even tweaking the settings provides a much better image trace than what Illustrator is currently capable of, there are also a lot more settings to optimize what you're going for as opposed to presets that don't always make sense to me or to other users I've talked to.

I would love to see this fixed because it's one of the few things in my workflow that has me considering using other products!

Thank you

What happened to Image Trace? I started out on CS5 and have been using illustrator steadily since then and in the last few years the quality of image trace has gone downhill. Can this please be fixed?

I don't know what happened - but the new version isn't good. It used to work like a charm - now I don't know what it's doing - particularly when you expand. Additionally - when I tried to look for help - the instructions said vectorize the image in the objects panel - which is fine - but I couldn't find it and looked all over the place. Please take image trace back to the previous verison.

The new image trace sucks. Please return it to the previous version.
Here's an image that demonstrates the detail the image has lost.
The previous version would have worked like a charm.
I've played around with different settings and nothing is as good as the previous version.
Image trace is one of the main reasons I use Illustrator so this is not good.

Try vectorizing the left image to get result on the right. New image trace.
In Illustrator 2022 it takes 2 clicks.

The update to the Image Trace function has damaged its functionality. I am presently tracing some high-res b/w artwork. My workflow before the update was High Fidelity Photo > Black and White > adjust threshold if necessary > Abutting > Ignore White > Expand. The update took away the High Fidelity Photo preset and replaced it with options that do not trace worth a ****. I went back to the old version and will remain there until all of the previous presets are reinstated.

I even cannot delete these default presets I never use. My own preset move to last. It must be streamlined.

Bring old image trace back. I cannot use it anymore. Default setting should be same as old, just some general 2 color trace. Default Image trace makes picture pink and very noisy and every preset is just some ugly artsy thing.

Yeah, Garrett, this is a known problem and the team tries to solve it. They wanted to improve and failed.
Some changes were already made. If you are on 27.6.1 — please update to 27.7.
While the Black & White preset the previous versions had by default is not restored back yet, you can try to tweak values manually to check if the result. Specifically, make the threshold to 128, lower the noise level to 1-2 (in the case of this halftoned computer is seems to be a good value). Please write back if you notice any improvements.
If you are able to share the original image here, the team can make some tests as well.
More changes are coming and we all hope this time they are going to be for the better :/

I like to halftone images in photoshop and turn them into vectors in illustrator. With the changes made to Illustrator 2023, I can no longer do this, everything is overly blobby and it's just lost any ability to pull fine detail. Everything is oversimplified, and it is unusable for most of the style of work I do.