JPG and PNG are both raster formats: they store an image as a fixed grid of individual pixels, which is why enlarging them causes blur or pixelation. SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) is fundamentally different, it stores an image as a set of mathematical instructions describing shapes, curves, and fills, which means it can be rendered at any size, from 16 pixels to 1600 pixels wide, with perfectly crisp edges every time.
Why this matters specifically for logos and icons
A company logo needs to display correctly on a tiny mobile favicon, a website header, a printed business card, and potentially a large banner, all wildly different sizes from one source file. A raster logo requires either exporting separate files at each size or accepting blur at the larger ones; an SVG logo renders perfectly sharp at every single size from one file, since it's recalculated mathematically rather than scaled from stored pixels. This is also why SVG files for simple logos are often dramatically smaller than an equivalent PNG, describing a shape with a formula takes far less data than storing millions of individual pixel values.
If you have a logo that only exists as a raster PNG or JPG and need it as scalable SVG, Image Vectorizer converts a raster image into vector paths, though results are cleanest on simple, high-contrast logos rather than complex photographic content.
Why SVG is the wrong choice for photographs
Photographs are full of continuous, irregular color variation, skin tones, gradients in the sky, texture in fabric, none of which map efficiently onto mathematical shapes and paths. Attempting to represent a photo as SVG either produces an enormous file (trying to describe millions of subtle color variations as vector data) or a crude, flattened approximation that loses the photographic detail entirely. JPG, PNG, or WebP remain the correct formats for any photographic content; SVG's advantages apply specifically to graphics built from flat colors and clean shapes.
Optimizing SVGs that are larger than they should be
SVG files exported from design software often carry extra metadata, unnecessarily precise coordinate values, or redundant path data that bloats file size without adding any visual benefit. SVG Optimizer strips this excess out, which matters for web performance since every logo and icon on a page adds to total load time, and an unoptimized SVG can be several times larger than a cleaned-up version with an identical visual appearance.