SVG
open standard for two-dimensional vector graphics
Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is an XML-based vector graphics format for defining two-dimensional graphics, having support for interactivity and animation. The SVG specification is an open standard developed by the World Wide Web Consortium since 1999.
SVG images are defined in a vector graphics format and stored in XML text files. SVG images can thus be scaled in size without loss of quality, and SVG files can be searched, indexed, scripted, and compressed. The XML text files can be created and edited with text editors or vector graphics editors, and are rendered by most web browsers. SVG can include JavaScript, potentially leading to cross-site scripting.
History
SVG has been in development within the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) since 1999 after six competing proposals for vector graphics languages had been submitted to the consortium during 1998 (see below).
The early SVG Working Group decided not to develop any of the commercial submissions, but to create a new markup language that was informed by but not really based on any of them.
SVG was developed by the W3C SVG Working Group starting in 1998, after six competing vector graphics submissions were received that year:
Web Schematics, from CCLRC
PGML, from Adobe Systems, IBM, Netscape and Sun Microsystems
VML, by Autodesk, Hewlett-Packard, Macromedia, Microsoft, and Vision
Hyper Graphics Markup Language (HGML), by Orange UK and PRP
WebCGM, from Boeing, PTC, InterCAP Graphics Systems, Inso Corporation, CCLRC, and Xerox
DrawML, from Excosoft AB
The working group was chaired at the time by Chris Lilley of the W3C.
Early adoption was limited due to lack of support in older versions of Internet Explorer. However, as of 2011, all major desktop browsers began to support SVG. Native browser support offers various advantages, such as not requiring plugins, allowing SVG to be mixed with other content, and improving rendering and scripting reliability.
The public source identifies “SVG” as open standard for two-dimensional vector graphics. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around standard, two-dimensional and vector.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2078. The Library of Congress control number is sh2002004644. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1999, 1998 and 2011.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “SVG” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.