What Is an SVG File? How To Use SVG Files in Web Design

SVG files allow you to create infinitely scalable web graphics, which can be useful for designing logos, custom fonts, and icons.

Is your website suffering from blurry logos and pixelated images on different screens? SVG—a web-friendly file format—has the cure. Unlike pixel-based images, SVGs use mathematical formulas to stay crisp and clear at any size.

Whether you’re building an online store or refreshing your brand identity, understanding SVG files can transform how your graphics appear to customers. Here’s everything you need to know about SVG files, their key features, and why they’re essential for logos, charts, icons, and other web graphics that need to look professional across all devices.

What is a SVG file?

SVG stands for Scalable Vector Graphics, an image format that uses vectors, a method of representing graphics using mathematical formulas that define shapes, lines, and solid colors. Unlike raster (or bitmap) images, which are made up of a fixed grid of colored pixels, you can scale SVG images to any size without them looking blurry or pixelated.

SVG images stay sharp at any resolution because the computer redraws them from exact mathematical instructions, like following a recipe that scales to fit the size of your dinner party. Common uses for vector files like SVG include logos, illustrations, fonts, and icons—any web asset that needs to stay sharp and consistent at any size. Files in SVG format are typically smaller than raster formats like PNG and JPEG, so they load faster and enhance the customer experience.

How do SVG files work?

SVGs use XML format coding, similar to the tagged text found in an HTML file, making them editable in any text editor. In other words, instead of a grid of pixels, an SVG file stores shapes, lines, and colors as XML code—i.e., the recipe. XML encoding has some advantages:

• Useful for SEO. Search engines can scan XML for keywords like the words in your company logo, giving SVG an SEO advantage over raster images, where text within the image is essentially invisible to search engines unless explicitly described in alt text.

• More accessible. Screen readers can scan SVGs, improving website accessibility. Since an SVG element can be semantically tagged (using <title> and <desc> elements), screen readers can read and vocalize what the image represents—a plus for visually impaired users.

• Ideal for ecommerce. SVG’s scalability, small file size, clean appearance, and compatibility with web languages like CSS and JavaScript make it a smart choice for online store development. Shopify has native SVG support—particularly within the assets folder used for theme development, logos, and icons.

However, be aware that malicious SVG content containing JavaScript could run in a user’s browser, stealing cookies, hijacking sessions, or defacing the site. Shopify automatically sanitizes SVG files upon upload to prevent malicious content in the XML code and negate security risks like cross-site scripting.

A brief history of the SVG file format

The SVG file format was first proposed in 1994 by Dutch software engineer Martijn Koster. In the late 1990s, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) called for proposals for a new web-friendly vector graphic format. The W3C established SVG files in 1999 as an open standard vector-based graphic format for the web, and it became an approved International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard in 2003. However, SVG adoption was slow at first, gaining significant traction only after major browsers—including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Opera—introduced native support in the late 2000s and early 2010s.

Differences between SVG, PNG, and JPEG files

• Mathematical vectors vs. pixel grids
• Scalability
• File size
• Use cases
• SEO and accessibility
• Editing and interactivity

Unlike pixel-based raster files like JPEGs and PNGs, SVG uses algorithms to draw an image. This is useful and efficient for most image types, with one exception: photographic or highly detailed images. 

Here are the main differences between SVG and raster file types:

Mathematical vectors vs. pixel grids

SVG stores images as formulas that define points, lines, and solid colors. Raster formats use bitmaps, which consist of a fixed number of individual pixels mapped to a grid.

Scalability

The browser recalculates the mathematical recipe as you scale an SVG image, so you can resize it without quality loss. PNG and JPEG are pixel-based with fixed resolutions; increasing their size reduces quality, introducing blurriness or pixelation.

File size

SVG files tend to be smaller than raster images, which makes them useful for image optimization. However, converting a complex photographic image to SVG can result in a large and unusable file. PNG and JPEG files are more efficient for detailed images with fine color gradations. For example, a bitmap created in Adobe Photoshop with complex textures, brushes, or photo elements is better saved as a JPEG or PNG, since those details don’t translate well into clean lines.

Use cases

SVG is ideal for two-dimensional graphics like charts, illustrations, logos, icons, and diagrams since it scales cleanly across different screen resolutions. For other image formats, JPEG is best for high-definition digital photos, while PNG is better for web graphics and logos, thanks to its lossless compression and transparency support. Note that, unlike SVG, PNG is not resolution-independent, giving SVG a major advantage when it comes to scalability.

SEO and accessibility

SVG graphics allow search engines like Google read the text within them, potentially improving your website’s ranking in search results. SVG files can also be read by screen readers, making them more accessible to people with disabilities. PNG and JPEG treat text as part of the image, making it difficult for search engines and screen readers to read or index.

Editing and interactivity

You can edit SVG files in a text editor by modifying the XML markup and easily style or manipulate them with web languages like JavaScript and CSS. PNG and JPEG need special image editing software to make any changes, limiting your level of control over them, but also reducing their risk of malicious code.

Why use an SVG file?

• Infinite scalability
• Manageable file size
• SEO benefits
• Accessibility
• Editability
• Browser support

SVG graphics make sense for ecommerce because they stay sharp on any device, load quickly, improve SEO and accessibility, and work across all modern web browsers. Here’s more on these advantages:

Infinite scalability

You can resize SVGs up or down without sacrificing image quality because the browser recalculates the image’s mathematical formulas for lines and points at any scale.

Manageable file size

SVG files are often smaller than raster images like PNGs and JPEGs. This smaller data footprint leads to quicker loading times, improving user experience. 

SEO benefits

Search engines like Google can easily index text in SVG files, potentially benefiting your search engine rankings. For example, a business logo within the SVG graphic can contain the text with the business name and other keywords.

Accessibility

SVGs store text as actual text elements, so screen readers can read SVG files aloud, helping people who need assistance reading webpages. 

Editability

You can change the XML code in SVG files using a text editor by editing markup tags, making SVGs highly customizable and easy to manipulate without specialized graphic software. 

SVGs can also interact with other web technologies, like JavaScript and CSS, enabling dynamic and engaging graphics with animations, user interactions, and real-time style changes. This makes SVGs versatile for responsive, interactive web design.

Browser support

Lack of browser support was once SVG’s Achilles’ heel—no longer. Modern web browsers—including Chrome, Edge, Safari, and Firefox—natively support SVG files. However, older browsers—like Internet Explorer—may not support SVG images.

Common uses for SVG Files

SVG is ideal for any two-dimensional image with smooth lines and shapes. Common uses for SVG files in web design include:

• Logos. Since company logos often get reused across platforms and must appear sharp at different sizes, SVGs resolve the scalability issues common with raster formats like JPEG and PNG.

• Icons. Icons—with their clear borders and simple designs—are perfectly suited for conversion into scalable vector images.

• Illustrations. Non-photographic visuals like line drawings scale well as SVG files and help conserve file space.

• Charts and graphs. SVGs can create scalable data visualizations, and their text is fully searchable and indexable.

• Animated elements. You can use CSS and JavaScript to animate SVGs, making them useful for microinteractions and dynamic displays.

How to create and edit an SVG file

• Create an SVG file from scratch
• Convert a file to SVG
• Edit an SVG file

While you could theoretically code a SVG file in XML or convert it from other file types, using professional illustration software is the more popular and less error-prone approach. Here’s how to create and edit an SVG file:

Create an SVG file from scratch

To create an SVG file from scratch, use a graphic design program and draw your image within an app like Adobe Illustrator (the industry standard vector graphics editor), Inkscape (free), Microsoft Visio, Canva SVG Editor, CorelDRAW, or Google Drawings (free). Once your design is complete, navigate to the File menu, select Export or Save As, then choose SVG as the format. 

Convert a file to SVG 

If you prefer not to download software, your best option for converting from another format to SVG is using online tools. Some online converters include a preview of your converted SVG before download and a built-in editor for minor adjustments. 

Before using these tools, make sure you select images with simple shapes and outlines. Trying to convert photographic images with loads of detail will likely result in massively inefficient SVG files. 

Here are four tool options:

• Adobe Express Free SVG Converter. Good if you’re familiar with the Adobe ecosystem, and known for its polished interface, integration with other Adobe tools, and quality results.

• CloudConvert. A versatile converter supporting a huge range of file formats, including various image types to SVG.

• Convertio. Similar to CloudConvert, it’s user-friendly and supports many formats.

• FreeConvert. Another robust converter that uses 256-bit SSL encryption when transferring files and automatically deletes them after a few hours.

Edit an SVG file 

To edit an existing SVG file, the most practical approach is to use a vector graphics editor like Adobe Illustrator. These programs are designed for manipulating a vector image. 

Open SVG files in the editor app and use its graphics tools to modify individual elements like paths, shapes, or groups. You can resize, reshape, transform, add color, or apply effects to these elements. 

Technically speaking, you can edit SVG files in a plain text editor since they’re written in XML code, but this method isn’t recommended for extensive edits because the risk of damaging the file is high. XML edits are primarily suited for minor tweaks, like changing a color attribute.

What is an SVG file FAQ

What will open an SVG file?

You can easily open and view SVGs in modern web browsers like Chrome, Edge, Safari, and Firefox by simply dragging and dropping or clicking to open them. You can also open and edit SVG files in vector graphics editors—like Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape, and CorelDRAW—or in a plain text editor for minor code adjustments.

Can SVG files be used on websites?

Yes, SVG files work on many websites because they’re specifically designed to be web-friendly and are popular for displaying graphics, charts, illustrations, and logos. SVG supports interactivity with other web technologies like HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), and JavaScript.

Is a SVG file the same as a PNG?

No, an SVG file differs from a PNG file in several important ways. SVG is a vector graphic format that uses mathematical algorithms so images can scale infinitely, whereas PNG is a raster (pixel-based) format that can become blurry or pixelated when enlarged. Another difference is that SVG files are written in XML code, while PNG files store pixel data.