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Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), Version 1.1
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Format Description Properties
• ID: fdd000020
• Short name: SVG_1_1
• Content categories: still image
• Format category: bitstream encoding, file format
• Last significant update: 2007-02-06
• Draft status: Full
Identification and description 
| Full name | Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.1 |
| Description | SVG is a language for describing two-dimensional graphics in XML [XML10]. SVG allows for three types of graphic objects: vector graphic shapes (e.g., paths consisting of straight lines and curves), images and text. Graphical objects can be grouped, styled, transformed and composited into previously rendered objects. The feature set includes nested transformations, clipping paths, alpha masks, filter effects and template objects. SVG may also be used for animations; see Notes below.
|
| Production phase | Generally a final-state (end-user delivery) format. |
| Relationship to other formats | |
| Subtype of | XML |
| Has later version | SVG_1_2, Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), Version 1.2 (spec in draft as of early 2005) |
Local use
| LC experience or existing holdings | None |
| LC preference | Suggested as preferred format for vector graphics (still images). |
Sustainability factors
| Disclosure | Open standard from W3C |
| Standardization | Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.1 Specification released as a W3C Recommendation on 2003-01-14. |
| Other documentation | |
| Adoption | Import/export in: Visio 2003 (Microsoft), Corel Draw 11
Open source tools: SharpVectorGraphics
Preferred format for: FCLA Digital Archive |
| Licensing and patent claims | No special issues. As of January 2004, the SVG Working Group is not aware of any royalty-bearing patents they believe to be essential to SVG. |
| Transparency | Based on XML, hence inherently transparent. |
| Self-documentation | Includes <metadata> element designed to hold elements from other XML namespaces. Hence an SVG file can contain rich descriptive or administrative metadata using any other DTD. SVG 1.1 uses a DTD, not an XML Schema. |
| External dependencies | None |
| Technical protection considerations | None |
Quality and functionality factors (still image)
| Clarity (support for high image resolution) | Scalable. Optional settings for rendering hints: crispEdges and geometricPrecision. |
| Color maintenance | SVG colors are specified in the sRGB color space. SVG content can specify an alternate color specification using an ICC profile (see the ICC Profile Format Specification). If ICC-based colors are provided and the SVG user agent supports ICC color, then the ICC-based color takes precedence over the sRGB color specification. |
| Support for graphic effects and typography | Rich support. |
| Functionality beyond normal rendering | Text in alternate languages for labels, etc. |
File type signifiers
| Tag type | Value | Note |
| Filename Extension | svg | |
| Internet Media Type | image/svg+xml | Proposed in standards documentation. |
| Internet Media Type | image/svg-xml | Found in practice. |
Notes
| General | SVG files can be used for animations but there appears to be little or no practice of doing this. Most web sites present simple animations as GIF_89a files and more complex animations and interactives as Flash SWF_7 or SWF_8 files. Commentators with an interest in animation, including advocates for SVG as a publicly disclosed format, have compared SVG and SWF (for example, http://www.carto.net/papers/svg/comparison_flash_svg/) but they note that Macromedia's powerful authoring software gives SWF the edge. |
| History | |
Format specifications
URLs
• Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.1 Specification (http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG11/)
• W3C SVG animation specifications (http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG/animate.html)
Print
Useful references
URLs
• Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), XML Graphics for the Web (http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/)
• http://www.svg.org/
• http://www.adobe.com/svg/indepth/faq.html
• http://www.learnsvg.com/
• http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3023.txt
• ICC organization (http://www.color.org/)
• ICC Profile Format Specification (http://www.color.org/icc32.pdf)
• Comparison of SVG and SWF (http://www.carto.net/papers/svg/comparison_flash_svg)
Print
Frost, John, Stefan Goessner and Michel Hirtzler. Learn SVG: The Web Graphics Standard. Columbia, MO; Learn SVG, 2003. Available in paper and in eBook formats from http://learnsvg.com/buy/.
Last updated Monday, 21-May-2007 17:38:59 EDT
