How to use an SVG in PowerPoint: insert, edit, recolour
PowerPoint inserts SVG files like any picture: Insert, Pictures, This Device. How to recolour one, convert it to shapes, and what to do in older versions.
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PowerPoint takes SVG files directly. On the Insert tab choose Pictures, then This Device, pick the .svg file and choose Insert. The drawing lands on the slide as a graphic that stays sharp at any size, can be recoloured from the Graphics Format tab, and can be broken into ordinary PowerPoint shapes with Convert to Shape. Microsoft’s support page for the feature lists Microsoft 365 and Office 2019, 2021 and 2024. Older versions need the file converted to a PNG first.
Insert an SVG
On Windows
- Open the slide and choose Insert, Pictures, This Device.
- Find the .svg file, select it and choose Insert.
On a Mac: choose Insert, Pictures, and pick the file, as for any other image.
Dragging the file from a folder onto the slide generally works too.
On a phone or tablet: Microsoft’s page says the Android apps can insert SVG files. On an iPhone or iPad an SVG cannot be inserted, though one already in the presentation can be edited there. Insert it on a computer first.
PowerPoint’s own icons, under Insert, Icons, are SVG graphics as well, and everything below applies to them.
Which versions take SVG
| Version | SVG files |
|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 on Windows and Mac | Insert and edit |
| PowerPoint 2019, 2021, 2024 | Insert and edit |
| PowerPoint on Android | Insert and edit |
| Office on iPhone and iPad | Edit only, once inserted elsewhere |
| PowerPoint 2013, 2010 and earlier | Not listed by Microsoft. Convert to PNG |
Microsoft’s page does not list PowerPoint 2016 either. Copies of 2016 that came with a Microsoft 365 subscription gained the feature through updates, while a copy bought outright may not have it. If Pictures refuses the file or shows a blank box, treat the version as one without SVG.
Resize, recolour and style it
Click the graphic and the Graphics Format tab appears. Microsoft’s page describes these tools on it:
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| Graphics Fill | Sets one colour for the whole graphic |
| Graphics Outline | Adds or changes a line round the shapes |
| Graphics Styles | A gallery of ready-made fill and outline combinations |
| Graphics Effects | Shadow, glow, reflection and 3D effects |
| Change Graphic | Swaps in another image, keeping the position |
| Crop and Size | Trims the frame, or sets exact dimensions |
Drag a corner handle to resize. Because the graphic is made of shapes and not pixels, it does not blur however large it gets.
Note the limit on Graphics Fill: the colour chosen applies to the entire image. To colour the parts differently, convert the graphic to shapes.
Convert an SVG to shapes
Convert to Shape takes the SVG apart into ordinary PowerPoint shapes, one for each piece of the drawing.
- Right-click the graphic and choose Convert to Shape. It is also on the Graphics Format tab.
- Click a single piece and use the Shape Format tab to change its fill, outline or size. Pieces can be moved and deleted too.
- When finished, select all the pieces and choose Group, Group on the Shape Format tab, so that the drawing moves and resizes as one again.
Microsoft documents this for PowerPoint on Windows, and its notes for the phone and tablet apps say the conversion has to be done there. Once converted, the pieces are PowerPoint shapes and are no longer an SVG. They can be animated one at a time, which is the usual reason for converting.
When the SVG does not look right
PowerPoint draws SVG with its own software, not a web browser’s, and it does not understand everything a browser does. Plain filled shapes come through well. Files that depend on filters, masks, patterns or fonts may look different or lose parts.
| What you see | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The file cannot be chosen, or inserts as a blank box | A version without SVG support, or an SVG it cannot read | Convert it with SVG to PNG and insert the PNG |
| The lettering is in the wrong font | The SVG holds live text in a font the computer lacks | Convert the text to paths in a vector editor before inserting |
| Parts are missing, or colours are wrong | The file uses something PowerPoint does not draw, such as a filter, a mask or a pattern | Save a simpler copy from a vector editor, or insert a PNG |
| Graphics Fill turns the whole drawing one colour | That is what it does | Use Convert to Shape, then colour the pieces. Or set the colours first with change SVG colours |
| There is a wide empty margin round the drawing | The file’s frame is bigger than the artwork | Trim it with crop SVG, or use Crop in PowerPoint |
| Convert to Shape is missing | A phone, tablet or web version, or an older version | Open the file in PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 on Windows |
| It looks right for you and wrong for a colleague | Their version is older | Send a version of the slide that uses a PNG |
The SVG viewer shows what a file contains before you insert it: text, embedded pictures and the size it claims.
Using a PNG in older versions
For PowerPoint versions without SVG support, a PNG with a transparent background is the closest substitute. Make it large: a picture that will fill a slide should be at least as many pixels wide as the screen it will be shown on, and two or three times that leaves room for zooming and printing. SVG to PNG sets the pixel size and keeps the background transparent.
A PNG cannot be recoloured part by part or converted to shapes, so make any colour changes to the SVG before converting.
Saving a slide or a shape as SVG
Going the other way, recent Microsoft 365 versions of PowerPoint offer an SVG type when saving. Right-click a shape or a group, choose Save as Picture, and look for Scalable Vector Graphics in the list of types. File, Save As offers the same type for a whole slide. Microsoft’s list of supported file formats does not mention it, so it may be missing from older versions. Where it is missing, save the slide as a PDF and convert it with PDF to SVG, which keeps the shapes and leaves out any photographs.
Questions
Does an SVG make the presentation file bigger? Usually less than a large picture would. Simple drawings are small files.
Can an SVG be animated in PowerPoint? PowerPoint’s own animations can be applied to the graphic as a whole, or to its pieces after Convert to Shape. Animation written inside the SVG file is not played.
Do the same steps work in Word and Excel? Yes. Microsoft’s page covers Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint together, with the same Insert, Pictures command.