Wikipedia:SVG help
SVG help Scalable Vector Graphics is a commonly used file format for providing a geometrical description of an image using basic objects such as labels, circles, lines, curves and polygons. An image can be reduced or enlarged to an arbitrary size, and will not suffer image data loss, nor will it become pixelated. SVG makes an excellent format for artwork, diagrams and drawings. SVG images are defined in XML text files. This means that they can be searched, indexed, scripted, and compressed. Since they are XML files, SVG images can be edited with any text editor, but SVG-based drawing programs are also available. However, the rendering engine used by wiki is not perfect, and may cause the image to be shown incorrectly, or differently from how it is displayed in your vector editor of choice. This page enables authors experiencing problems with SVG graphics to obtain some help in getting their images into wiki the way they intend. |
Things we can help with Understanding SVG
Using SVG appropriately
What you see is not what you get
Something new
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General suggestions[edit]The following is a list of common vector editors and suggested settings for compatibility. The user guide of your chosen program may also be valuable in troubleshooting. Browsers[edit]Most modern browsers can render SVGs in view-only mode. It may be convenient to set a browser as the default SVG viewer, but you can also paste the file path into the address bar. Please note that even if your browser renders an SVG correctly, it may render differently on Wikipedia. Text editors[edit]The raw XML data behind SVG files can be viewed and edited in most text editors. This method works well for small changes, such as altering the color of a certain object. For larger edits, this method may be less desirable, as most text editors do not provide a rendered preview of the changes. Inkscape[edit]There is a simple work-around for the scarcities of librsvg. The operation "Stroke to Path", to be found under Menu>Path in Inkscape or via Ctrl+Alt+C, can be applied to all of the objects that are not rendered correctly. To keep the SVGs editable, this should only be done to the files intended for upload, and these files can be deleted afterwards. As of February 2014, the objects that must be modified to render correctly by librsvg include:
OpenOffice.org[edit]OpenOffice.org SVG files may require manual modification before being uploaded to Wikipedia. To achieve this:
NB: Vector graphics line widths may also need to be set explicitly in OpenOffice.org Draw. SVG code replacement guide (executing replace all using Nedit regular expressions)[edit]
This SVG export procedure has been tested using OO 2.3.0 and OO 3.2.1 with a simple .odg candidate. Microsoft Powerpoint[edit]It is easiest to save entire slides from Powerpoint as svg rather than saving multiselected objects with right click / save as picture, because for entire slides the boundaries will be cropped to the size of the slide and the background will be set to white. To save slides as svg, use file / save as / browse / save as type --> svg. If your slide has text, open the exported svg into Notepad and replace all the existing font-family specifications with Text can also get chopped up on export, which causes rendering and localization bugs. To fix this, search for all Microsoft Visio[edit]Generating SVG charts from Microsoft Excel[edit]I've uploaded .xlsx (Microsoft Excel) spreadsheets that automatically generate XML code for charts in SVG format. You simply paste or enter your data into the spreadsheet, and specify image dimensions, number of grid lines, font sizes, etc. The spreadsheet instantly and automatically generates a column of XML code that you simply copy and paste into a text editor and save as an ".svg" file. The spreadsheets produce lean SVG code, avoiding the "extra stuff" that Inkscape inserts. They should save you time in creating SVG charts. Feedback and suggestions on my talk page are welcome. RCraig09 (talk) 23:41, 19 February 2021 (UTC) Click HOW TO for detailed explanation.
Example SVG files: Category:SVG diagrams created with spreadsheet.
Text guidance[edit]Use text over paths[edit]Converting text in an SVG file into paths (shapes) increases file size, prevents localization/accessibility features, and complicates edits/modifications down the line. It is therefore generally disfavored, with some exceptions, such as text-based logos. The Wikimedia text renderer can introduce bugs as its fonts may differ from browser fonts or SVG editor fonts, but following the guidance below should minimize these errors. font-family property[edit]Due to copyright restrictions, MediaWiki cannot use proprietary fonts that are commonly found on several proprietary operating systems. Fonts such as Geneva require licensing fees to distribute. rsvg will not be able to locate such fonts, and the text will fail to appear in the rendered image. There are three solutions to this issue:
For ease of subsequent editing and significantly smaller file sizes, substituting the font with an available font is recommended. Many common fonts have non-proprietary alternatives that are similar in typographical style, resulting in minimal disruption to existing images during substitution. For a list of fonts available in Wikipedia, see available fonts on Meta. Wikimedia has default fonts, and will use Liberation Serif for Times New Roman and Liberation Sans for Arial. For further fallbacks see c:Help:SVG#fallback. Fonts that are available on Wikimedia servers may or may not be available on a visitor's machine. If the placement or appearance of text in the image is important and there is uncertainty about which fonts are installed on a visitor's machine, then converting text into path information may be necessary. font-size property[edit]Fonts should be sized so that they look good as thumbnails on wikipedia pages and so they are easy to view on smartphones. Smartphones are how most people access wikipedia. Thumbnails are how most other people see images, as very few people click images and zoom them in to see them. Avoid using or creating images with fonts that are too small to be legible in thumbnail or smartphone views. The font size that appears in a thumbnail is a combination of svg width, thumbnail width, and font size. To match wikipedia font size as a thumbnail, use font-size = (63/(your upright value))*((your svg width)/1000). For instance, if the thumbnail will be scaled up to thumb upright=1.35 and your image has svg width of 960, set font-size in the svg to (63/1.35)*(960/1000) = 44.8. Background colors[edit]Transparent backgrounds are fine, but do not think your image will always be displayed on a light or white background. The wikipedia smartphone app, for instance, renders images on a black background, so if you show black text on a transparent background it will be invisible. Testing for problems[edit]The following SVG checkers may help you to detect SVG problems before you upload: None of these checkers are foolproof, so it's wise to validate images. You can preliminarily validate images by uploading them to the shared, temporary-use location Test.svg, though other users may overwrite your image at any time. To force refresh images in your browser use Ctrl+F5 (Shift-Reload on Mac), so that you see the latest upload and not cached image copies (this is necessary even on wikimedia upload pages). Rendering SVG files[edit]On Wikipedia SVGs are interpreted by the librsvg-library to create PNG previews at different image sizes (to rasterize them). That library only recognizes a subset of all valid SVG syntax, and may render your SVG without many features. In order to bypass these deficiencies in the library, there are certain parameters that need to be formatted in specific ways or be assigned a workaround value in order for librsvg to accurately render views of your SVG file. Some issues are enumerated below, but be sure to test your SVG files before and after uploading them. <mask> parameter maskUnits="userSpaceOnUse"[edit]The librsvg-library does not interpret the value of parameter stroke-dasharray[edit]The librsvg-library does not accept a Use xlink:href=, not href= alone, in
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Assistance[edit]
If you have a tricky SVG file with a problem not described, or can't quite figure out what the previous section was talking about, you can simply ask for assistance by posting a quick note hereafter that outlines the problem, as well as providing links to the files that are exhibiting these problems. Don't forget to sign your name with four tilde symbols (~~~~) and an editor will attempt to reply here to help!
When you are happy that a request has been fulfilled, just leave a note so that the request can be archived later, as needed.
An alternative source of help is Commons:Graphics village pump.
Current requests[edit]
This page has archives. Sections older than 30 days may be automatically archived by Lowercase sigmabot III when more than 4 sections are present. |
How can I resize SVG images (not just the objects within them)?[edit]
E.g. If I have a simple graphic image, and want to reduce it to 1/5 canvass size without any change in appearance. (It's helpful to have all images in a series set to the same size, line weight, etc., especially when merging them together or exchanging elements.)
For example, File:Cepheus symbol (bold).svg is currently on a 102x102 px canvas, and I'd like to reduce it to 16x16 px.
Currently, I can only do this by resizing the canvass, resizing the object, and then repositioning the object, which is okay for a few files but adds up when converting lots of them (about 200 in this case).
If I could do it in bulk, that would be even better.
BTW, I'm on Linux.
Thanks. — kwami (talk) 06:17, 22 April 2024 (UTC)
- As I understand your request:
<g transform="scale(0.1568627,0.1568627)"> . . . </g>
- will achieve the size reduction of SVG ". . ." elements. Of course, you'll have to adjust the width and height specifications and any viewbox setting that you have, near the top of your SVG vile. —RCraig09 (talk) 16:50, 22 April 2024 (UTC)
- @RCraig09: Kwamikagami is not asking about individual elements, but the whole image.
- @Kwamikagami: Don't worry about transform - look at the second line of the file, where there is a
<svg>
tag - this has two attributeswidth="80.4pt" height="80.4pt"
. These can take a variety of values, you could alter them towidth="16px" height="16px"
. You should not need to alter anything else. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 20:25, 22 April 2024 (UTC)
Need help with fixing a logo[edit]
So, the LT 2024 logo has a few letters that look corrupted when shown on Wikipedia, but when I click on the original file, it shows the complete logo… VenezuelanSpongeBobFan2004 (talk) 07:49, 25 April 2024 (UTC)
- You need to specify the image, as in File:LooneyTunes2024.svg. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 18:29, 25 April 2024 (UTC)
- Anyway, my opinion is that this concerns the
d="..."
attributes of the<path />
elements. A lot of the values have been run together without any separators, making them ambiguous. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 19:17, 25 April 2024 (UTC)