---
title: SVG
slug: Web/SVG
tags:
  - NeedsTranslation
  - References
  - SVG
  - TopicStub
translation_of: Web/SVG
---
<div class="callout-box">
  <strong><a href="/en-US/docs/SVG/Tutorial" title="SVG/Tutorial">Getting Started</a></strong><br>
  This tutorial will help get you started using SVG.</div>
<p><strong>Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)</strong> is an <a href="/en-US/docs/XML" title="XML">XML</a> markup language for describing two-dimensional vector graphics. SVG is essentially to graphics what XHTML is to text.</p>
<p>SVG is similar in scope to Adobe's proprietary Flash technology, but what distinguishes SVG from Flash is that it is a <a href="http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/">W3C recommendation</a> (i.e., a standard) and that it is XML-based as opposed to a closed binary format. It is explicitly designed to work with other <a href="http://www.w3.org/">W3C</a> standards such as <a href="/en-US/docs/CSS" title="CSS">CSS</a>, <a href="/en-US/docs/DOM" title="DOM">DOM</a> and <a href="http://www.w3.org/AudioVideo/">SMIL</a>.</p>
<div class="cleared row topicpage-table">
  <div class="section">
    <h2 class="Documentation" id="Documentation">Documentation</h2>
    <dl>
      <dt>
        <a href="/en-US/docs/SVG/Element">SVG element reference</a></dt>
      <dd>
        Get details about each SVG element.</dd>
      <dt>
        <a href="/en-US/docs/SVG/Attribute">SVG attribute reference</a></dt>
      <dd>
        Get details about each SVG attribute.</dd>
      <dt>
        <a href="/en-US/docs/DOM/DOM_Reference#SVG_interfaces">SVG DOM interface reference</a></dt>
      <dd>
        Get details about the whole SVG DOM API.</dd>
      <dt>
        Enhance HTML content</dt>
      <dd>
        SVG works together with HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Use SVG to enhance a regular HTML page or web application.</dd>
      <dt>
        SVG in Mozilla</dt>
      <dd>
        Notes and information on how SVG is implemented in Mozilla.
        <ul>
          <li><a href="/en-US/docs/SVG_in_Firefox">How much SVG is implemented in Firefox</a></li>
          <li><a href="/en-US/docs/SVG_in_Firefox">Tutorial for how to use </a></li>
          <li><a href="/en-US/docs/SVG_In_HTML_Introduction">SVG in XHTML</a></li>
        </ul>
      </dd>
    </dl>
    <p><span class="alllinks"><a href="/en-US/docs/tag/SVG">View All...</a></span></p>
    <h2 class="Community" id="Community">Community</h2>
    <ul>
      <li>View Mozilla forums... {{DiscussionList("dev-tech-svg", "mozilla.dev.tech.svg")}}</li>
    </ul>
    <h2 class="Tools" id="Tools">Tools</h2>
    <ul>
      <li><a href="http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/Test/">SVG Test Suite</a></li>
      <li><a href="http://jiggles.w3.org/svgvalidator/">SVG Validator</a> (Discontinued)</li>
      <li><a href="/en-US/docs/tag/SVG:Tools" title="tag/SVG:Tools">More Tools...</a></li>
      <li>Other resources: <a href="/en-US/docs/XML">XML</a>, <a href="/en-US/docs/CSS">CSS</a>, <a href="/en-US/docs/DOM">DOM</a>, <a href="/en-US/docs/HTML/Canvas">Canvas</a></li>
    </ul>
  </div>
  <div class="section">
    <h2 class="Related_Topics" id="Examples">Examples</h2>
    <ul>
      <li>Google <a href="http://maps.google.com">Maps</a> (route overlay) &amp; <a href="http://docs.google.com">Docs</a> (spreadsheet charting)</li>
      <li><a href="http://starkravingfinkle.org/projects/demo/svg-bubblemenu-in-html.xml">SVG bubble menus</a></li>
      <li><a href="http://jwatt.org/svg/authoring/">SVG authoring guidelines</a></li>
      <li>An overview of the <a href="/en-US/docs/Mozilla_SVG_Project">Mozilla SVG Project</a></li>
      <li><a href="/en-US/docs/SVG/FAQ" title="SVG/FAQ">Frequently asked questions</a> regarding SVG and Mozilla</li>
      <li>Slides and demos from talk on <a href="http://jwatt.org/svg-open-US/docs/2009/slides.xhtml">SVG and Mozilla</a> at SVG Open 2009</li>
      <li><a href="/en-US/docs/SVG/SVG_as_an_Image">SVG as an image</a></li>
      <li><a href="/en-US/docs/SVG/SVG_animation_with_SMIL">SVG animation with SMIL</a></li>
      <li><a href="http://plurib.us/1shot/2007/svg_gallery/">SVG art gallery</a></li>
      <li>More samples (<a href="http://croczilla.com/bits_and_pieces/svg/samples">SVG Samples croczilla.com</a>, <a href="http://www.carto.net/papers/svg/samples/">carto.net</a>)</li>
    </ul>
    <h3 id="Animation_and_interactions">Animation and interactions</h3>
    <p>Like HTML, SVG has a document model (DOM), events and is accessible from JavaScript. This allows developers to create rich animations and interactive images.</p>
    <ul>
      <li>Some real eye-candy SVG at <a href="http://svg-wow.org/">svg-wow.org</a></li>
      <li>Firefox extension (<a href="http://schepers.cc/grafox/">Grafox</a>) to add a subset of SMIL animation support</li>
      <li>Interactive <a href="http://people.mozilla.com/~vladimir/demos/photos.svg">photos</a> manipulation</li>
      <li><a href="http://starkravingfinkle.org/blog/2007/07/firefox-3-svg-foreignobject/">HTML transformations</a> using SVG's <code>foreignObject</code></li>
    </ul>
    <h3 id="Mapping_charting_games_3D_experiments">Mapping, charting, games &amp; 3D experiments</h3>
    <p>While a little SVG can go a long way to enhanced web content, here are some examples of heavy SVG usage.</p>
    <ul>
      <li><a href="http://www.codedread.com/yastframe.php">An SVG Tetris</a> &amp; <a href="http://www.treebuilder.de/svg/connect4.svg">Connect 4</a></li>
      <li><a href="http://files.myopera.com/orinoco/svg/USStates.svg">Find the State</a> game</li>
      <li><a href="http://www.carto.net/papers/svg/us_population/index.html">US population map</a></li>
      <li><a href="http://www.treebuilder.de/default.asp?file=441875.xml">3D box</a> &amp; <a href="http://www.treebuilder.de/default.asp?file=206524.xml">3D boxes</a></li>
      <li><a href="http://jvectormap.com/">jVectorMap</a> (interactive maps for data visualization)</li>
    </ul>
  </div>
</div>
<p> </p>