Format Description Categories >> Browse Alphabetical List
>> Back
Table of Contents
- Identification and description
- Local use
- Sustainability factors
- Quality and functionality factors
- File type signifiers
- Notes
- Format specifications
- Useful references
Format Description Properties
- ID: fdd000020
- Short name: SVG_1_1
- Content categories: still-image
- Format Category:encoding, file-format
- Other facets: unitary, text, structured, symbolic
- Last significant FDD update:2024-05-06
- Draft status: Full
Identification and description
| Full name | Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.1 |
|---|---|
| Description | Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is an open standard developed and maintained under the auspices of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The first edition of SVG 1.1 was published as a W3C Recommendation in January 2003, followed by a second edition in August 2011. SVG is a language for describing two-dimensional graphics in XML. The XML DTD for SVG (version 1.x) allows for three types of graphic objects: vector graphic shapes (e.g., paths consisting of straight lines and curves), raster graphics (raster images), and text. Graphical objects can be grouped, styled, transformed and composited into previously rendered objects. The feature set includes nested transformations, clipping paths, alpha masks, filter effects and template objects. SVG may also be used for animations. See SVG_family for more detail on the features supported in SVG and the structure of SVG files. |
| Production phase | Generally a final-state (end-user delivery) format. |
| Relationship to other formats | |
| Subtype of | SVG_family, Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) File Format Family |
| Subtype of | XML, XML (Extensible Markup Language) |
| Defined via | XML_DTD, XML Document Type Definition (DTD) |
| Has earlier version | Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), Version 1.0 (2001), not described separately at this Web site. |
| Has later version | SVG_2, Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), Version 2.. This update is under development. As of April 2020, a W3C Candidate Recommendation, issued October 4, 2018, is available at http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG2/. The most recent editor's draft can be found at https://svgwg.org/svg2-draft/. Work on a Version 1.2 of the full SVG standard has been abandoned. |
| Has modified version | SVG_Tiny_1_2, Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) Tiny, Version 1.2. SVG Profile intended for implementation on a range of devices, including cellphones and PDAs as well as laptops and personal computers. |
| Has subtype | Two reduced profiles of SVG 1.1 for mobile devices: SVG Basic 1.1 and SVG Tiny 1.1, not described separately at this website. See Mobile SVG Profiles: SVG Tiny and SVG Basic. W3C Recommendation 14 January 2003. |
| Used by | EPUB_2, EPUB, Electronic Publication, Version 2. EPUB_2 readers are required to recognize and display embedded SVG images. |
| Used by | EPUB_3, Electronic Publication, Version 3. EPUB_3 uses a restricted subset of SVG 1.1 to represent inline vector graphics in documents based on XHTML and in standalone SVG-based EPUBs. |
| Used by | ODF_family, OpenDocument Format (ODF) Family, OASIS and ISO/IEC 26300. ODF uses the svg: prefix for elements and attributes compatible with SVG 1.1. |
| Used by | HTML_5, HyperText Markup Language (HTML) 5. SVG 1.1 was supported for embedding within HTML through HTML 5.2. See HTML 5.2: 4.7.18. SVG. As of March 2020, HTMLLiving Standard: 4.8.17 SVG refers to SVG 2. |
Local use
| LC experience or existing holdings | The Library of Congress has over 400,000 SVG files inventoried in its collections. |
|---|---|
| LC preference | The Library of Congress Recommended Formats Statement (RFS) includes SVG as a preferred format for other graphic images in digital form. The RFS does not specify a version of SVG. |
Sustainability factors
| Disclosure | Open standard from W3C. |
|---|---|
| Documentation | Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.1 (Second Edition). SVG_1_1 was originally published in 2003. The Second Edition includes clarifications and corrections for errata but no new features, released on August 16, 2011. The XML DTD defining the specification is in Appendix A of the specification document and also at https://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/1.1/DTD/svg11-flat-20110816.dtd |
| Adoption | Although SVG 1.0 was adopted as a W3C Recommendation in September 2001, there was not widespread built-in support in browsers for some years. Adobe offered SVG Viewer as a browser plugin. The Apache Batik project offered a toolkit with modules for parsing, viewing, and generating SVG; it could be used on a server to transform SVG to PNG or JPEG for browsers without SVG support. Gradual adoption of HTML 5 (first released in 2008, and approved as a W3C Recommendation in 2014) led to more general native support for SVG by browsers. HTML 5 allows SVG markup within <svg> elements inside HTML markup. By 2014, mainstream browsers supported SVG 1.1 without a plugin. An infographic published in late 2014, indicated that support was full in Safari, Firefox, Chrome, and Opera; support in IE started with IE 9; and support in Android with version 4. For current analysis of browser support, see SVG in HTML img element and Inline SVG in HTML5 from caniuse.com. Testing SVG support across browser engines explores support by the engines used in various browsers on a test SVG file using elements that artists are likely to use. SVG images can be uploaded to Wikipedia, but are converted to PNG files in various sizes for display. Help:SVG for Wikimedia Commons indicates that the rendering library librsvg is used by MediaWiki to rasterize SVG files into PNG bitmap files for serving to Wikimedia and Wikipedia pages. One reason for the conversion to PNG is that rendering an SVG in real-time slows down older computers or operating systems. This process eliminates any animation or interactivity. Mediawiki description pages (e.g., https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SVG_logo.svg) provide access to the source SVG image. Over the years, SVG has stimulated great enthusiasm in users and groups. See Useful references below, including for archived captures of the LearnSVG and svg.org sites, which are no longer online. An international conference devoted to SVG (initially called SVG Open, and later The Graphical Web) was held every year between 2002 and 2016 (with the exception of 2006). See the conference archive. See also SVG_family. |
| Licensing and patents | No special issues. After publication of the first edition of SVG 1.1, the SVG Working Group was not aware of any royalty-bearing patents they believe to be essential to SVG. |
| Transparency | Based on XML, hence inherently transparent. |
| Self-documentation | Includes <metadata> element designed to hold elements from other XML namespaces. Hence an SVG file can contain rich descriptive or administrative metadata using any other XML schema or DTD. Accessibility Features SVG files have good support for accessibility features because SVG is built on top of XML and SVG's file format design. W3C's notes on the Accessibility Features of SVG highlight many of these accessibility features. Some of these accessibility features include:
|
| External dependencies | None |
| Technical protection considerations | None |
Quality and functionality factors
| Still Image | |
|---|---|
| Normal rendering | Good support. |
| Clarity (high image resolution) | The intent of SVG is for images to be inherently scalable. The specification supports optional settings for rendering hints: crispEdges and geometricPrecision. Color properties in SVG 1.1 are expected to be defined using a CSS2-compatible specification for a color in the sRGB color space, using either a keyword or numerical RGB specification. For the numerical specification, see 4.3.6 Colors in the CSS2 specification. The SVG 1.1 specification includes a more extensive list of recognized color keywords than CSS2. |
| Color maintenance | SVG content can specify an alternate color specification using a profile as defined by the International Color Consortium (ICC). See the ICC Profile Format Specification. ICC.1:2004-10. If ICC-based colors are provided and the SVG user agent supports ICC color, then the ICC-based color takes precedence over the sRGB color specification. See 11.2 Specifying paint in the SVG 1.1 specification. |
| Support for vector graphics, including graphic effects and typography | Rich support. |
| Support for multispectral bands | Not applicable. |
| Functionality beyond normal rendering | Support for animations. Text in alternate languages for labels, etc. |
File type signifiers and format identifiers
| Tag | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Filename extension | svg | |
| Internet Media Type | image/svg+xml | Registration is in Appendix P of the SVG 1.1 specification. Used as example in IETF RFC 3023: XML Media Types. |
| Internet Media Type | image/svg-xml | Found in practice, probably because usage of SVG files on the web began before IETF published RFC 3023: XML Media Types. See Build Flexible, Lightweight XML-Based Images for ASP.NET Using Scalable Vector Graphics from Microsoft's MSDN Magazine, July 2003, which uses this media type in examples. |
| Magic numbers | See note. | None specified in Appendix P: Media Type Registration for image/svg+xml. A typical SVG 1.1 stand-alone file begins with <?xml version="1.0" standalone="no"?> followed by a DOCTYPE declaration that includes the string PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD SVG 1.1//EN". Note that case is not significant in this string. |
| XML DOCTYPE declaration | <!DOCTYPE svg PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD SVG 1.1//EN" "http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/1.1/DTD/svg11.dtd"> | For SVG 1.1, a conforming stand-alone file should have a document type declaration before the mandatory root <svg> tag. The declaration must include the string PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD SVG 1.1//EN". Note that case is not significant in this string. |
| Pronom PUID | fmt/92 | See https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/PRONOM/fmt/92. |
| Wikidata Title ID | Q2078 | No version declared. See https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2078. |
Notes
| General | See SVG_family. |
|---|---|
| History | See SVG_family |
Format specifications
- Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.1 (Second Edition) (https://www.w3.org/TR/SVG11/).Multi-page HTML presentation
- Single page view of Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.1 (Second Edition) (https://www.w3.org/TR/SVG11/single-page.html).
- SVG 1.1 DTD (https://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/1.1/DTD/svg11-flat-20110816.dtd).
- W3C SVG animation specifications (https://www.w3.org/TR/SVG/animate).
Useful references
URLs
- Resources from W3C related to SVG.
- Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) (https://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/).Hub page for W3C SVG activities
- 2005 working draft of Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.2 Specification (https://www.w3.org/TR/SVG12/).Work on SVG 1.2 Full appears to have been abandoned soon after this.
- Mobile SVG Profiles: SVG Tiny and SVG Basic. W3C Recommendation 14 January 2003 (https://www.w3.org/TR/2003/REC-SVGMobile-20030114/).Initial profiles of SVG suited to displaying vector graphics on small devices. Edited in place 15 June 2009
- Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) Tiny 1.2 Specification, W3C Recommendation 22 December 2008 (https://www.w3.org/TR/SVGMobile12/).A profile of SVG suited both to small devices and personal computers.
- SVG Tutorial (2002) | by David Duce, Ivan Herman, Bob Hopgood (https://www.w3.org/2002/Talks/www2002-svgtut-ih/hwtut.pdf).
- SVG2 Requirements Input | from W3C (https://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/WG/wiki/SVG2_Requirements_Input).Includes discussion and records working group decisions, with links to minutes as appropriate. Only one change since July 2012.
- Accessibility Features of SVG (https://www.w3.org/TR/2000/NOTE-SVG-access-20000807/).W3C Note on Accessibility Features of SVG.
- Wikipedia article on Scalable Vector Graphics (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scalable_Vector_Graphics).
- Wikipedia article on SVG Animation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SVG_animation).
- Svg.org was launched in February 2003 with a news post saying, "This website will aim, across the coming months, at becoming a central place for the SVG community and for you to share your experience and expertise. Here you will find user journals, an SVG news page, SVG tutorials and articles." By February 8, 2012, the site was inactive. Links below are to selected pages archived by the Internet Archive.
- First capture of svg.org home page | as of March 3, 2003 (https://web.archive.org/web/20030319180729/http://www.svg.org/).
- svg.org wiki:Front Page | as of May 2003 (https://web.archive.org/web/20030503135139/http://www.svg.org/wiki/).
- Home page of svg.org | as of February 2010 (https://web.archive.org/web/20100208221439/http://www.svg.org/).
- LearnSVG (offline as of early 2020) was a site with links to tutorials and other resources related to SVG. The initial site (first archived by the Internet Archive in 2003) was based on the content of the book "Learn SVG – The Web Graphics Standard" by Jon Frost, Stefan Goessner and Michel Hirtzler.
- LearnSVG site as of July 2003 (https://web.archive.org/web/20030722112937/http://learnsvg.com/).Has outline and extracts of chapters from the LearnSVG book.
- LearnSVG site as of March 2016 (https://web.archive.org/web/20160324001146/http://www.learnsvg.com/).The front page was now a rich menu of links to resources related to SVG.
- Learn SVG: The Web Graphics Standard - Chapter 7 (https://www.codeproject.com/Articles/5485/Learn-SVG-The-Web-Graphics-Standard).
- Selected individual posts or resources with examples of creative uses of SVG.
- SVG has more potential (September 2016) | from MadeByMike (https://www.madebymike.com.au/writing/svg-has-more-potential/).
- SVG-WOW | gallery of SVG examples (http://svg-wow.org/index.html).
- OLD.carto.net (https://old.carto.net/).Website (with content in English and German) devoted to cartography. This section (no longer maintained) focused on the use of SVG for mapping applications.
- Security concerns related to SVG images
- More on SVG risks (December 2016) | from Mad File Format Science (https://madfileformatscience.garymcgath.com/2016/12/02/more-svg-risks/).Refers to previous post on SVG risk from cross-scripting and the article listed immediately below
- Crouching Tiger – Hidden Payload:Security Risks of Scalable Vectors Graphics (2011). Link via Internet Archive. (https://web.archive.org/web/20210516131020/https://www.ei.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/media/hgi/veroeffentlichungen/2011/10/19/svgSecurity-ccs11.pdf).
- SVG Tutorial | from w3schools.com (https://www.w3schools.com/graphics/svg_intro.asp).
- Adobe Systems has been actively involved in the development of SVG and supports SVG in several products.
- Export high-quality, optimized SVG | from Help files for Adobe Illustrator (https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/how-to/export-svg.html).
- Save in SVG format | from Help files for Adobe Illustrator. (https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/saving-artwork.html#save_in_svg_format).
- Adobe SVG Developer Center | as of November 2012 (https://web.archive.org/web/20121130224658/http://www.adobe.com/devnet/svg.html).Link via Internet Archive
- The Apache Batik project has been involved with SVG since the beginning.
- https://web.archive.org/web/20011022035355/http://xml.apache.org/batik/index.html
- https://web.archive.org/web/20050507104134/http://xml.apache.org/batik/index.html
- Server Side SVG (February 27, 2002) | by J. David Eisenberg (https://www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/02/27/batik/index.html)."SVG tools aren't just for the client side: find out how the Apache Batik toolkit can enable your web server to SVG on the fly, providing fallback to JPEG or PNG images for browsers without SVG support."
- SVG and the Web, Chapter 23 of Inkscape: Guide to a Vector Drawing Program (http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/Web.html).
- Resources related to support for SVG 1.1 in browsers and browser engines.
- Can I Use | Analysis of browser support for SVG in HTML img element (https://caniuse.com/#feat=svg-img).
- Can I Use | Analysis of browser support for Inline SVG in HTML5 (https://caniuse.com/#feat=svg-html5).
- Can I Use | Analysis of browser support for a variety of SVG features (https://caniuse.com/#cats=SVG).
- Testing SVG Support Across Web Browser Engines [Case Study] (https://www.hongkiat.com/blog/test-svg-format-browser-engines/).Based on a "testing picture focusing on elements that artists are most likely to use." As of March 2020, this was last updated in July 2019.
- Scalable Vector Graphics Infographic (late 2014) (https://psdtowp.net/svg.html).Includes information on support in browsers, on mobile devices, etc.
- XML Media Types (https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3023.txt).Section 8.19 concerns SVG.
- International Color Consortium (https://www.color.org/index.xalter).
- Specification ICC.1:2004-10, File Format for Color Profiles, Profile Version 4.2.0.0 (https://www.color.org/ICC1v42_2006-05.pdf).Normative reference for SVG 1.1 (Second edition). First edition cited the 1998 ICC Spec. with a 1999 amendment.
- PRONOM entry for fmt/92 (https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pronom/fmt/92).Information in PRONOM from UK National Archives about SVG (1.1). PUID: fmt/92.
- Wikidata entry for Q2078 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2078).Information in Wikidata about Scalable Vector Graphics, no version declared. Wikidata Title ID: Q2078.
- See also SVG_family.
Last Updated: 05/08/2024
