Converting KMZ to DXF extracts the geometry from a zipped Google Earth file into a CAD drawing.
What is KMZ?
KMZ is a ZIP archive that packages a KML document (conventionally named doc.kml) together with any assets it references, such as icons, images, and overlays.
Structurally a KMZ is just a compressed container: unzip it and you get a main doc.kml plus an optional folder of supporting files. Zipping typically shrinks verbose KML text substantially and keeps a placemark set and its custom icons together as one shareable file, which is why Google Earth exports KMZ by default. Everything true of KML applies to the KML inside a KMZ; the wrapper only adds compression and asset bundling.
What is DXF?
DXF (Drawing Exchange Format) is an open CAD data format created by Autodesk for exchanging drawings between AutoCAD and other CAD applications.
DXF stores CAD entities — points, lines, polylines, arcs, circles, text and blocks — organized on named layers. Unlike GIS formats it has no attribute table, so geometry and layer names come across but arbitrary feature attributes do not. It is the common interchange format for survey drawings, site plans, and engineering geometry moving between CAD tools such as AutoCAD, and into GIS via GDAL. GeoConvert reads and writes DXF entirely in your browser.
Why convert KMZ to DXF?
A KMZ received from a colleague can be turned into CAD entities for design or drafting, without needing Google Earth on the CAD workstation.
Coordinate systems
Because the payload is ordinary KML, a KMZ is inherently WGS84 (EPSG:4326) longitude/latitude/altitude, with no projection metadata and no possibility of reprojection inside the format.
DXF is a CAD format and carries no coordinate reference system — coordinates are plain model units. When converting to or from GIS formats you often need to know (or assign) the drawing’s real-world CRS; GeoConvert assumes WGS84 (EPSG:4326) only if you ask to reproject.
What to watch out for
- The KMZ is unzipped to its KML, which is WGS84 — reproject to a projected CRS before export so the DXF has usable units.
- Attributes and styling are not carried into DXF; only geometry and layers.
- Polygons are written as closed polylines.
How to convert KMZ to DXF
- Drag your KMZ file (.kmz) into the converter above, or click to browse.
- Confirm the source is KMZ and choose DXF as the output format.
- Optionally pick a target coordinate system (EPSG) to reproject.
- Click Convert and download your DXF file. Everything runs in your browser.
Frequently asked questions
- Is a KMZ different from a KML here?
- Only in packaging — the KMZ is unzipped to its doc.kml first, then converted identically.
- Will it be georeferenced in CAD?
- DXF stores no CRS, so reproject to your working projected system before exporting.