# EmilTholin/image-trace-loader

Loads images and exports traced outlines as image/svg+xml URL-encoded data

Repository: https://github.com/EmilTholin/image-trace-loader
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/image-trace-loader
Language: JavaScript
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2023-01-07T02:19:10+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 32/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3242, "days_push": 1335, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1222, forks 19 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:02.535686+00:00)

## What it is
A webpack loader that loads images (gif, png, jpg) and exports traced SVG outlines as URL-encoded image/svg+xml data alongside the original image source. It uses Potrace to generate lightweight traced placeholders, commonly used for blur-up/lazy-loading effects.

## Use cases
- generate svg placeholder outlines for images in webpack builds
- lazy load images with a traced svg preview
- automate potrace tracing of images in a web build
- show low-cost image placeholders before the real image loads
- combine with url-loader or file-loader for image assets

## When to choose
- you use webpack and want automatic svg traced placeholders for images
- you want blur-up style image loading with minimal placeholder size
- you need configurable potrace options directly in your build config

## When to avoid
- your build tool is not webpack (e.g. Vite, Rollup, esbuild)
- you need full-color vectorization rather than traced outlines
- the project needs active development or new features

## Facets
- artifact type: plugin
- maturity: maintenance
- function: image-processing, build-tool
- domain: web-development, frontend, image-processing
- platform: -
- tags: webpack-loader, svg-tracing, potrace, placeholder-images, lazy-loading, nodejs, web-server

## Member repositories
- EmilTholin/image-trace-loader (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:02.535686+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T06:15:36.053511+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/EmilTholin/image-trace-loader (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:02.535686+00:00, sha dce6678a17dc)
  - registry_npm: https://registry.npmjs.org/image-trace-loader (fetched 2026-08-29T12:23:49.740025+00:00, sha a68c6dbfd684)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.