SVG vs PNG: Which Image Format Should You Use?

Quick answer

Use SVG for logos, icons, diagrams, and simple charts that must stay sharp at any size, because it stores shapes as instructions and scales without losing quality. Use PNG for screenshots, pixel art, and images that already exist as pixels. For photographs, neither is usually the best choice.

Two different ways to describe a picture

A PNG is a raster image: a rectangular grid of pixels, each with a stored colour value. The format compresses that grid without discarding any of it, which is why the W3C PNG specification describes it as a lossless, portable format and why it supports transparency. Whatever size the grid is, that is the amount of detail the file holds.

An SVG is a vector image. MDN describes SVG as a two-dimensional vector image format based on XML syntax. Instead of recording pixels, it records shapes, paths, text, and colours, and the viewer draws them at whatever size is needed. Because the drawing is computed rather than stored, MDN notes that SVG graphics can scale infinitely without becoming blurry.

SVG and PNG side by side
Criteria	SVG	PNG
What is stored	Shapes, paths, text and styles written in XML	A grid of pixels, compressed without loss
Scaling	Redrawn at any size, edges stay sharp	Enlarging magnifies the pixels and looks soft or blocky
Transparency	Yes, areas without shapes are transparent	Yes, including partial transparency
Photographs	Poorly suited, would need huge numbers of shapes	Works but files are often large
Editable as text	Yes, and styleable with CSS	No, it is binary pixel data

When SVG is the better choice

SVG fits anything that is naturally made of lines, curves, and flat colours. A company logo, a set of interface icons, a map outline, or a bar chart can be a few hundred bytes of instructions, and the same file looks crisp on a small phone and on a large display. MDN points out this is why SVG is useful in responsive design, where graphics must adapt to many screen sizes.

SVG also has features a pixel format lacks. It can be styled with CSS, made interactive with JavaScript, and it includes clipping, masking, filters, and animation. A single icon file can change colour in dark mode or on hover without a second image.

When PNG is the better choice

PNG is the safer format when the picture already exists as pixels. Screenshots, interface captures, scanned artwork, and pixel art are all grids of pixels, and a lossless PNG keeps every one exactly. Converting such an image to SVG would mean approximating it with shapes, which usually loses detail or produces a heavy file.

Detailed raster artwork with gradients and textures also tends to belong in a pixel format. For photographs the choice is usually between formats designed for continuous tone, as explained in JPEG vs PNG.

A decision guide

Starting point by asset type
Asset	Usually start with	Why
Logo or wordmark	SVG	Stays sharp at every size and is tiny
Interface icon set	SVG	Scalable and can be recoloured with CSS
Simple chart or diagram	SVG	Text and lines stay crisp and can be styled
Screenshot	PNG	Exact pixels and sharp text without compression artefacts
Pixel art or sprite	PNG	Individual pixels must remain unchanged
Photograph	Neither, usually	A photographic format is typically smaller

Practical cautions

SVG files are text and can contain scripts, which is how they achieve interactivity. That is useful on your own pages but means an SVG from an untrusted source should not be pasted into a page without checking it. A PNG cannot carry executable code.

For print work, the pixel density of a PNG matters because it is fixed, while an SVG has no pixel count at all and is rasterised at the output size; the relationship between pixels and print size is explained in DPI vs PPI.

Exporting a PNG from an SVG

You can always turn an SVG into a PNG at a chosen size. The reverse does not work: a PNG cannot be turned back into clean shapes. Keep the SVG as the master and export PNGs for places that need pixels.