SVG and EPS are extensively used image formats for website development and graphic design. The formats have built-in abilities, making it difficult for users to choose the best format for a particular project.
The article discusses the technical features of EPS vs. SVG, including file size, structure, transparency support, image quality, storage needs, browser support, animation, compression, and web performance.
When is SVG better than EPS?
SVG images are smaller and highly web-responsive with minimal storage demands and enhanced online user experience, while EPS images are larger and less web-responsive because they load slowly and incur more bandwidth costs, lowering user experience.
SVG file types are used to design and develop complex icons for applications and websites, simple artworks, including compliant web graphics, logos, and 2D images.
The advantages of SVG files include support for simple animations and transparent backgrounds, smaller and easier editing, and high quality, making the format ideal for web-responsive designs.
When is EPS better than SVG?
EPS images are easily integrated into design and layout software without distorting resolution and quality levels, while SVG images are not easily integrated into InDesign and Software layouts but can be embedded in HTML documents or XML texts.
The EPS file type allows backward support, making it suitable for professional printers carrying out large-scale tasks, advertising collateral, or billboards readable from a distance. The advantages of EPS include highly scalable files that are software and program-compatible, very flexible, and printable.
EPS versus SVG Comparison Table
| Aspect/Factor | EPS | SVG |
| Transparency | Does not support transparency. | Supports transparency |
| File Size | Relatively larger files than SVG files. | Comparatively smaller files than EPS files |
| Image Quality | High-quality images. | High-quality images. |
| Performance | Loads slowly on websites than SVG. | Loads faster online than EPS. |
| Structure | Vector graphic format with file header, metadata, and file markers. | Vector graphics using XML markup language and XML code defining shapes, grid line, paths, texts, and colors. |
| Animation | Does not support animation. | Supports animations. |
| Storage | Larger and needs more storage space than SVG. | Smaller and needs less storage space than EPS. |
| Compression | Supports PackBits/ZIP and lossless compression. | Supports lossless compression. |
| Browser Support | Limited browser support compared to SVG. | Wider web browser support compared to EPS. |
Differences and similarities between SVG and EPS images
Using the table above that compares SVG versus EPS features, both formats support lossless compression and high-quality images. However, they differ in PackBits/ZIP compression, structure, transparency and animation support, performance, storage, file size, and browser support.
Image Quality
EPS and SVG are high-quality file formats. EPS extensions support 1-bit, 8-bit, and 24-bit color per channel. It also supports color profiles such as RGBA, Grayscale, and CMYK. The format has bitmap data and preserves specific coding on size and color.
In contrast, SVG is bitmapped because it is created and stored using mathematical formulas, numbers, or a set of commands. It uses an XML-based markup language to define the 2D vector graphics, making it resolution-independent. SVG retains image resolution and quality levels with excessive scaling and resizing.
Transparency
SVG file extension supports transparency, whereas the EPS files do not. The EPS files are in textual forms and only use the PS programming language, which hardly has the integral ability to support transparent backgrounds. The PS interpreter can render an EPS file for view but hardly supports alpha channel data.
SVG files rely on their 'Default' transparent background feature, allowing users to create varying image backgrounds. It depends on the HML language to support and allow users to create transparent images easily embedded in different web contents. As such, for transparency support, choose SVG over EPS.
Performance
SVG and EPS are flexible file types regarding web performance or image loading times. However, the EPS format has multiple detailed files, making them larger than SVG. Similarly, SVG uses efficient compression, resulting in smaller and highly web-responsive files than EPS.
Due to their small sizes, SVG files load faster online than EPS files. Thus, users prefer SVG over EPS when it comes to web optimization.
Structure
SVG and EPS image formats are vector-based. Both formats use mathematical equations and graphics to define the image vector graphics, including shapes, lines, colors, and curves, but not pixels. Their modules are structured differently, making EPS and SVG easy to compare.
The EPS extension has a file header, encapsulated image data, a PostScript Program, and an end-of-file marker. The header has primary data about the file: the version number, the bounding image box, and resolution levels. The PostScript Program stores the PostScript commands used to render its images.
Conversely, the SVG file structure included mathematical formulas to describe and support images on grid lines, points, shapes, and curves. It uses the XML markup language to define vector-based graphics and has the XML code embedded directly into XML texts and HTML documents. The XML codes specify all vector graphics store and transfer digital data.
File Size
SVG files are smaller compared to EPS files. EPS files are detailed and store vector and raster graphics data, while SVG only stores vector-based information. An EPS file stores multiple files, each one page long with a file size between 0.5 and 10 MB. Multiple EPS files can be larger than SVG files.
Conversely, SVG files use efficient lossless compression with gzip algorithms, resulting in a reduction of 20-50% of file size. On the other hand, EPS uses PackBits (ZIP) compression to reduce file sizes by 10-20%. The compression rate can be zero for non-photographic EPS files. Choose SVG over EPS for smaller file sizes.
Animation
The SVG file extensions support animations using the markup feature, which enables and displays animated content on websites. The markup can be accessed from JavaScript, which supports animation modules through CSS or scripting. In contrast, the EPS file format does not support animation. EPS files only support still images since they do not have multimedia modules to support interactive content and animated images.
Storage
Despite both SVG and EPS formats preserving all image data due to lossless compression, the EPS compression method reduces file sizes by 10-20%, while SVG’s compression rate is 20-50%; this makes EPS files larger than SVG files. The compressed data can last indefinitely when properly handled, stored under suitable conditions, and using the correct storage mediums.
SVG files can be stored indefinitely in SVG DOM as XML text and HTML documents. On the other hand, EPS files are stored in File Systems, Floppy Drives, Base64 Encoding, Hard Drives, and Content Delivery Networks.
Compression
SVG files support lossless compression through gzip, which can significantly reduce file size without losing quality. EPS files can also be compressed using various methods, including PackBits and ZIP compression. PackBits and ZIP compression methods can reduce the size of EPS files, with the extent of compression depending on the file's content; typically, PackBits compression reduces about 10-20%, though it may offer little benefit for non-photographic images.
SVG files, being XML-based, are stored in a text format. The gzip algorithm can be applied to compress SVG files, often resulting in 20-50% smaller file sizes compared to the uncompressed versions. This compression is lossless, meaning no image data is lost, ensuring high-quality output. Therefore, SVG is often more efficient than EPS for compression, particularly for web and scalable vector graphics applications.
Browser Support
Compared to SVG, EPS has limited web browser support. Only Google Chrome supports EPS files, whereas browsers such as Opera, Brave, Vivaldi, Internet Explorer, Discord, Firefox, Edge, Safari, and Samsung Internet are incompatible or unsupported.
Even Google Chrome requires further file support extensions and plug-ins such as PostScript Viewer or Compiler to open and view EPS files. In contrast, SVG is supported by almost all web browsers, including Brave, Vivaldi, Firefox, Edge, Safari, Opera, Chrome, Discord, and Samsung Internet, except IE 8.
Convert SVG to EPS or EPS to SVG
Convert SVG to EPS online using Convertjack. EPS images are scalable without losing resolution and image quality. They are easily embedded in other file formats or documents, including PDFs, Word files, and InDesign layouts, making them ideal for sharing images that need resizing, like artwork and logos.
Convertjack is the best and most modernized EPS to SVG converter, guaranteeing handy and tailored documents. SVG files are smaller, easily manipulated, support interactivity, high-quality, and resolution independent, increasing online user experience and optimizing search engines.