It will appear in your browser window.Īlternately, you can use a free online converter such as to convert an SVG file to a raster format that you can view using conventional image viewing applications. So if you have an SVG and can’t open it with anything else, open your favorite browser, select File > Open, then choose the SVG file you’d like to see. That includes Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari. RELATED: What Is An XML File (And How Do I Open One)? How Do I View an SVG File?Īll modern web browsers support viewing SVG files. SVG utilizes XML, another open standard, to encode two-dimensional graphics in a way that’s easy for apps to read and modify. World Wide Web ConsortiumĪlso, SVG is an open standard that can be included in viewing applications and browsers royalty-free, which means that application developers don’t need to pay any money to use it. They are also more future-proof than bitmap images since they can be scaled to larger resolutions in future displays without losing quality. Since SVG files can be scaled to any size without detail loss, they can produce very smooth graphics with a relatively small file size compared to raster graphics. RELATED: What's the Difference Between Pixels and Vectors? What’s the Point of the SVG Format? They can be scaled bigger or smaller without losing quality or sharpness.

Since the drawing can take place at any size, SVG files are resolution independent. In a vector graphics image, the image is stored mathematically as a series of instructions that tell a viewing program how to “draw” the image on your screen. In contrast, SVG images use vector graphics to define an image. If you scale a raster image larger than intended, the image becomes jagged and blurry.

Each pixel’s color and location are stored in the file. Typical image formats-such as JPG, PNG, and GIF-utilize raster graphics, which means that they display an image by storing a grid of pixels, called a bitmap.

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