/ Published in HPGL

HPGL Format Overview

HPGL and HPGL/2 are plotter languages developed by Hewlett Packard to drive their broad range of plotting devices. In the early days, files were both printed and saved as HPGL files and it is often seen as an archive format for legacy systems. Today it is less often used to save files but is still driving a vast array of plotters. CAD files saved to the HPGL format can be converted into editable CAD files. Because of the nature of plotting, the text editablity is often lost as each character is drawn as a series of pen strokes. Visual Integrity is developing a solution to read these plotted labels and convert them to real editable text. Ask us about availability.

HPGL is a vector output format for Visual Integrity products. The Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language (HPGL) is the plotter format developed by HP to send vector graphics to its pen plotters. A standard mainly used in CAD environments, many CAD software packages are also capable of reading HPGL as an input format and it is commonly found as an archive format.

Support Notes:

  • HPGL output is compliant with the HP-GL/2 format definition
  • Converts both vector graphics and text (font-based or ASCII)
  • Raster images are omitted during conversion