- published: 14 Dec 2015
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Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is a family of specifications of an XML-based file format for two-dimensional vector graphics, both static and dynamic (i.e., interactive or animated). The SVG specification is an open standard that has been under development by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) since 1999.
SVG images and their behaviors are defined in XML text files. This means that they can be searched, indexed, scripted, and, if need be, compressed. As XML files, SVG images can be created and edited with any text editor, but it is often more convenient to create them with drawing programs such as Inkscape.
All major modern web browsers have at least some degree of support for SVG and can render markup directly, including Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer 9, Google Chrome, Opera, and Safari. Earlier versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) do not support SVG natively.
SVG has been in development since 1999 by a group of companies within the W3C after the competing standards Precision Graphics Markup Language (PGML) – developed from Adobe's PostScript – and Vector Markup Language (VML) – developed from Microsoft's RTF – were submitted to W3C in 1998. SVG drew on experience from the designs of both those formats.