Webmasters, designers, or users of high-quality graphics and digital logos should consider SVG and PNG file formats. These versatile formats boast high resolutions and high-quality images even at larger scales, making it perturbing to choose SVG vs. PNG.
The article discusses the main similarities and differences between SVG and PNG in terms of structure, image quality, file size, storage, performance, browser support, compression, and support for animation and transparency.
When is PNG better than SVG?
PNG images use lossless compression to preserve detailed file information, while SVG uses lossless compression in simple files, ensuring the image is not compromised.
Thus, the PNG file format is suitable when handling complex images or photographs with larger areas of solid color, including icons and logos, which SVG cannot handle.
When is SVG better than PNG?
SVG images are vector-based, consisting of texts, shapes, and paths defined using mathematical equations, while PNG images are raster-based, consisting of pixels.
The pros of SVG images include its easy manipulation using JavaScript and CSS and smaller files, making it suitable for responsive web design and high-resolution image displays, including web imagery.
SVG versus PNG Table Comparison
| Element | SVG | PNG |
| Transparency | Supports transparency | Supports transparency |
| File Size | Smaller files than PNG files | Larger files than SVG files |
| Image Quality | High-quality vector-based files that maintain resolution levels without losing quality with upward or downward scaling than PNG. | High-quality raster-based files that become blurry or pixelated when scaled upwards or downwards compared to SVG. |
| Performance | Highly web responsive, smaller, lossless files than PNG; optimized search engine. | Less web responsive, larger, lossless files than SVG. Minimal search engine optimization. |
| Structure | Comprises XML markup language with XML code specifying texts, colors, paths, and shapes. | Comprises an 8-byte signature header and many chunks with several interior fields bound by the chunk type. |
| Animation | Supports animation | It does not support animation |
| Storage | Smaller files necessitate less storage space than PNG. | Larger files need more storage space than SVG. |
| Compression | Uses lossless compression | Uses lossless compression. |
| Browser Support | Widely supported by almost all web browsers | Widely supported by all browsers |
Differences and similarities between PNG and SVG images
SVG is vector-based, while PNG is a raster-based format. However, these file formats share similarities in storage medium, browser support, image quality, compression, and transparency support.
However, we see notable differences in structure, animation support, file size, and performance SVG versus PNG.
Transparency
SVG and PNG support transparency. SVG uses a lossless technique, which supports transparency at varying levels. It has a 'Default' transparent background, where attributes and elements have names that indicate their respective functions. It is based on HML, which is integrally transparent.
In contrast, PNG is a unique option for transparent images. The file format supports alpha channel transparency for non-rectangular or anti-aliased edges. Its alpha channel groups all pixels to transparency levels, transparent and opaque backgrounds.
PNG’s tRNS ancillary chunk then controls its transparent structure. Thus, SVG and PNG images support transparency, permitting webmasters to produce images with transparent backgrounds that can be easily incrusted or embedded over other elements on a website.
File Size
Lossless SVG images produce smaller files than losslessly compressed PNG images, mostly when handling simple online icons or web graphics. The file format creates and stores SVG images defined using mathematical equations rather than pixels, resulting in smaller file sizes.
Unlike bitmap or pixel-based PNG files, SVG files store images using mathematical formulas. These formulas define and anchor images on grid lines, shapes, curves, and points. Thus, SVG can be scaled up or down to fit any screen dimension.
For more complex photographs or images, SVG’s file size can be comparatively larger than that of a PNG. Nevertheless, in typical instances, PNG files are usually larger than SVG files, enabling the file format to handle high resolutions.
Thus, it is vital to consider the specific image dimensions you are working with before choosing the file format that results in the smallest file size.
Image Quality
SVG and PNG are high-quality file formats. However, SVG images are vector-based and can be scaled down or up without losing image resolution or quality. SVG files are ideal for responsive website design, where images must adjust to varying screen resolutions and sizes.
On the other hand, PNG images are raster-based, and they can easily lose quality with downward or upward scaling. When scaled up too far, Pixel-based PNG files become pixelated and grainy. Likewise, if a PNG image becomes too small (scaled down), it becomes indistinct.
As a result, whereas the PNG file format can handle very high resolutions, its files or images are not infinitely expandable. Thus, when users, web designers, or webmasters need to display images of multiple sizes, they must create multiple PNG files that warrant the best quality and crisp images of all sizes.
Performance
PNG files are larger than SVG files. However, both file formats can display complex levels of detail for web tables, infographics, logos, illustrations, and graphics. Conversely, SVG uses XML programming language, giving it an edge over PNG.
The XML code enables all SVG files to be displayed as texts rather than codes. Compared to PNG files, search engines, and screen readers can quickly analyze SVG files, making them ideal for SEO and accessibility.
Lossless compressed SVG files are similarly smaller than lossless PNG, enabling SVG images or files to load faster on a webpage than PNG files/images. SVG’s quick web responsiveness or faster website loading time is vital for search engine rankings.
PNG similarly supports some text-based graphics, although not as much as SVG. Hence, webmasters or designers who need their images to adapt to different screen sizes and resolutions should use SVG. Its scalability while preserving image quality makes it ideal for responsive web design.
Structure
SVG and PNG hardly compare in terms of file structure. The SVG is a vector-based file format that stores images using mathematical formulas. The formulas define and anchor images on grid lines, shapes, curves, and points. The file format uses the XML markup language, which establishes vector-based graphics.
The XML code can be easily embedded directly into HTML documents or XML texts or inserted and saved to the SVG file. Scripting languages like JavaScript and CSS interactively manipulate or animate every feature and element within the SVG file.
The XML code created in SVG files specifies all texts, colors, paths, and shapes and stores and transfers digital information. On the other hand, PNG is a raster graphic format comprised of pixels or bitmaps. Its structure includes an 8-byte signature header.
Many chunks of metadata, image data, and control data closely follow the PNG file’s header. Moreover, all PNG file chunks contain three ordinary fields: the 4-byte type code, 4-byte CRC, and 4-byte length.
Various interior fields exist inside a PNG file depending on the chunk type. However, the different IDAT chunks are effectively bound to hold the compressed image data. Besides, all PNG file chunks adjust to the predominantly preferred structure.
Every PNG file chunk contains identification data akin to the internal format, readable serially from each data stream's start to end. Furthermore, PNG has important chunks that assist all file readers and writers.
Animation
PNG does not support animation, while SVG files or images do. SVG file format has a markup that supports and presents animations on websites. It is accessible from JavaScript, a feature allowing SVG files to support animation elements through scripting or CSS.
SVG images can be simply manipulated using JavaScript and CSS. Users can easily alter the appearance of an SVG image on a webpage by tuning certain codes without creating another image file. This ability to manipulate SVG saves time, making creating lively, interactive animated content on a website easier.
On the other hand, PNG images can hardly be manipulated identically, and a new image file is needed for such modifications. Converting to different file formats to support animation might also be necessary.
However, whereas PNG cannot support animation, it contains specifications extendable in APNG that extensively support animation by assimilating the animation control chunk.
Storage
An SVG file format is written in XML code, which stores image text data or information as literal texts rather than shapes. Lossless SVG compressed images are smaller than lossless PNG images, necessitating less storage space than PNG. The cramped data are paralleled in multi-layer trees of items in an SVG DOM.
The data in SVG DOM corresponds to the SVG value attributes, such as quality or resolutions, and is stored indefinitely. Besides, SVG images can be stored in XML text files and HTML documents but can be defined using vector graphics formats.
Lossless PNG retains image details, resulting in larger files that need more storage space than SVG. PNG image data is stored interlaced and can last indefinitely depending on the situation, handling process, and storage medium, including the cloud, Base64 Encoding, Content Delivery Networks, and file systems.
Compression
SVG and PNG use lossless compression methods. SVG lossless compression significantly reduces file size compared to PNG and preserves image data, leading to higher file quality retention. SVG images are compressed using a lossless gzip algorithm to produce SVG files that are 20-50% smaller than the original image file.
Lossless PNG uses Huffman coding and LZ77 algorithms to retain image data and preserve higher quality. The lossless compression algorithms generate an image akin to the original PNG image, making PNG files/images larger than SVG images/files. PNG’s lossless compression reduces image sizes by 5-20%.
Browser Support
SVG is among the next-generation file formats, but unlike PNG, it is hardly compatible or widely supported with most browsers and operating systems. Moreover, SVG’s XML programming language and vector-based composition can be scary and unfamiliar to new users.
While PNG is regarded as a standard online format compatible with web browsers and operating systems such as Firefox, Chrome, Edge, Opera, Safari, Brave, and Discord, which also support SVG, Internet Explorer 6 does not support it, and SVG is not supported by Internet Explorer 8.
Converting PNG to SVG or SVG to PNG
Convert PNG to SVG for easy image scaling, higher image quality, simple file manipulation, and the creation of animated images. SVG files offer scalable, smaller, and higher-quality images than PNG because they are vector-based files. Use Convertjack to convert PNG to SVG easily within seconds.
On the other hand, convert SVG to PNG when dealing with complex photographs or images that need lossless compression to preserve detailed image information, high quality, and crispy transparent backgrounds. Convertjack is considered the most effective SVG to PNG converter.