Bitmap image formats for the web—GIF, JPEG, WBMP, and PNG—describe images using a grid of pixels. The resulting files tend to be bulky, limited to a single (often low) resolution, and consume large amounts of bandwidth on the web. SVG, on the other hand, is a vector format that describes images as shapes, paths, text, and filter effects. The resulting files are compact and provide high-quality graphics on the web, in print, and even on resource-constrained, handheld devices. Users can magnify their view of an SVG image on‑screen without sacrificing sharpness, detail, or clarity. In addition, SVG provides superior support for text and colors, which ensures that users will see images as they appear on your Illustrator artboard.

The SVG format is entirely XML-based and offers many advantages to developers and users alike. With SVG, you can use XML and JavaScript to create web graphics that respond to user actions with sophisticated effects such as highlighting, tooltips, audio, and animation.

You can save artwork in SVG format using the Save, Save As, Save A Copy, or Save For Web & Devices command. To access the complete set of SVG export options, use the Save, Save As, or Save A Copy command. The Save For Web & Devices command provides a subset of SVG export options which are applicable to web-oriented work.

How you set up your artwork in Illustrator will affect the resulting SVG file. Keep in mind the following guidelines:

• Use layers to add structure to an SVG file. When you save artwork in SVG format, each layer is converted to a group (<g>) element. (For example, a layer named Button1 becomes <g id="Button1_ver3.0"> in the SVG file.) Nested layers become SVG nested groups, and hidden layers are preserved with the display="none" SVG styling property.

• If you want objects on different layers to appear transparent, adjust the opacity of each object instead of each layer. If you alter opacity at the layer level, the resulting SVG file will not display transparency as it appears in Illustrator.

• Raster data is not scalable in the SVG Viewer and cannot be edited like other SVG elements. If possible, avoid creating artwork that will be rasterized in the SVG file. Gradient meshes and objects that use the Rasterize, Artistic, Blur, Brush Strokes, Distort, Pixelate, Sharpen, Sketch, Stylize, Texture, and Video effects are rasterized when saved in SVG format. Similarly, graphic styles that include these effects also produce rasterization. Use SVG effects to add graphic effects without causing rasterization.

• Use symbols and simplify the paths in your artwork to improve SVG performance. Also avoid using brushes that produce a lot of path data, such as the Charcoal, Fire Ash, and Scroll Pen, if performance is a high priority.

• Use slices, image maps, and scripts to add web links to an SVG file.

• A scripting language, such as JavaScript, opens unlimited functionality to an SVG file. Pointer and keyboard movements can invoke scripting functions such as rollover effects. Scripts can also use the document object model (DOM) to access and modify the SVG file—inserting or deleting SVG elements, for example.

Apply SVG effects

You can use SVG effects to add graphic properties such as drop shadows to your artwork. SVG effects differ from their bitmap counterparts in that they are XML-based and resolution-independent. In fact, an SVG effect is nothing more than a series of XML properties that describe various mathematical operations. The resulting effect is rendered to the target object instead of the source graphic.

Illustrator provides a default set of SVG effects. You can use the effects with their default properties, edit the XML code to produce custom effects, or write new SVG effects.

Import effects from an SVG file

SVG Interactivity panel overview

You use the SVG Interactivity panel (Window > SVG Interactivity) to add interactivity to your artwork when it is exported for viewing in a web browser. For example, by creating an event that triggers a JavaScript command, you can quickly create movement on a web page when the user performs an action such as moving a mouse cursor over an object. The SVG Interactivity panel also lets you see all the events and JavaScript files associated with the current file.

Delete an event from the SVG Interactivity panel

• To delete one event, select it and click the Delete button or choose Delete Event from the panel menu.
• To delete all events, choose Clear Events from the panel menu.

List, add, or remove events linked to a file

Add SVG interactivity to artwork

SVG events

Triggers the action when the element receives focus, such as selection by the pointer.

Triggers the action when the element loses focus (often when another element receives focus).

Triggers the action with a mouse click or keypress, depending upon the SVG element.

Triggers the action when the mouse button is pressed down over an element.

Triggers the action when the mouse button is released over an element.

Triggers the action when the mouse is clicked over an element.

Triggers the action when the pointer is moved onto an element.

Triggers the action while the pointer is over an element.

Triggers the action when the pointer is moved away from an element.

Triggers the action when a key is pressed down.

Triggers the action while a key is pressed down.

Triggers the action when a key is released.

Triggers the action after the SVG document has been completely parsed by the browser. Use this event to call one-time-only initialization functions.

Triggers the action when an element does not load properly or another error occurs.

Triggers the action when the page loading is stopped before the element is completely loaded.

Triggers the action when the SVG document is removed from a window or frame.

Triggers the action when the zoom level is changed for the document.

Triggers the action when the document view is resized.

Triggers the action when the document view is scrolled or panned.

Web-optimized SVG export options

A new SVG Export (File > Export > SVG) option is available. The new workflow allows you to generate standardized, web-optimized SVG files for your web and screen design projects.

The options available are:

• Styling: Choose how visual styling information is stored in the SVG markup.
  • Presentation Attributes: Uses separate XML attributes for each individual style property on each SVG tag. This format is required to use SVG assets with Android Studio.
  • Internal CSS: Uses a single `<style>` tag with CSS classes, sharing styling settings between objects that have the same styles. This may lead to smaller file sizes.
  • Inline Style: Uses a single `style` attribute per SVG tag, containing all tag’s style properties combined in CSS syntax.

Note: The default styling for SVG is set to Presentation Attributes because it improves compatibility with common developer tools, such as Android Studio.

• Font. Choose how fonts are represented in the SVG file. Outlines preserve the path definition , and are most compatible.
• Images: Choose if you want images to be saved as embedded within the document or linked files external to the document.
• Object IDs: Choose how ID types (names) are assigned to objects in the SVG file. Choose between Layer Names, Minimal, or Unique.This option determines how duplicate names of objects are handled, and how objects are named in the exported CSS.
• Decimal: Choose how much information you want to preserve the precision of object locations. A higher value for Decimal will increase the precision of how objects are laid out, and this increases the visual fidelity of the rendered SVG. However, increasing the value of Decimal also increases the file size of the resulting exported SVG.
• Minify: Optimizes the file size of the SVG by removing empty groups and blank spaces. Choosing this option also reduces the readability of the resulting SVG code.
• Responsive. Checking this option ensures that the SVG generated scales within a browser. No absolute size values are written.
  
• Show Code: Opens the exported content in your default text editor.
• Show in browser (icon): Displays the image in your default web browser.