SVG vs EPS: the difference and which to use
SVG and EPS are both vector formats. SVG is the modern one, for screens, the web and cutting machines. EPS is an older print format. When each is asked for.
Published
SVG and EPS both hold vector artwork: shapes that stay sharp at any size. Use SVG for websites, apps, cutting machines, lasers and anything shown on a screen. Use EPS only when a printer, sign maker or older piece of software asks for it by name. SVG is the current standard and opens almost everywhere. EPS is a print format from the 1980s that fewer and fewer programs open.
What each one is
SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) is an open standard from the W3C, first published in 2001. The file is text in XML, the same family as HTML, and every web browser can draw it. What is an SVG file describes what is inside.
EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) comes from Adobe. It is a small program in PostScript, the language that laser printers and imagesetters were built around, wrapped up with a note of its outer dimensions so that it can be placed in a page layout. It became the usual way to pass logos and illustrations between design programs and printers before the web existed.
Side by side
| SVG | EPS | |
|---|---|---|
| Made for | Screens and the web | Printing presses |
| Written in | XML text | PostScript |
| Opens in a web browser | Yes | No |
| Transparency | Yes | No: see-through areas are flattened when saving |
| Colour | RGB | RGB, CMYK and spot colours |
| Fonts | Named; rarely carried in the file | Can be carried in the file |
| Can hold pixel pictures | Yes | Yes |
| Animation and interaction | Yes | No |
| Editable in a text editor | Yes, readily | In theory |
| Cricut Design Space | Yes | No |
| Silhouette Studio | Designer Edition and above | Business Edition only |
| Office programs | Yes, in current versions | Turned off on Windows since 2017 |
Is EPS raster or vector?
Usually vector, but not by definition. An EPS is a container. Most hold vector shapes, many hold shapes together with a pixel picture, and one saved from a photo editor may hold nothing but pixels. The same is true of SVG, which can embed a PNG or JPG. The file ending does not prove that artwork is vector: raster vs vector explains how to tell.
Where EPS is still used
- Print shops and sign makers with long-established workflows, especially for spot colours such as Pantone inks, which SVG cannot name.
- Stock illustration libraries, which often supply vector downloads as EPS because every professional design program reads it.
- Older equipment and software: some sign-cutting and engraving programs import EPS but not SVG.
For new print work PDF has largely taken over the job EPS used to do, and it handles transparency, which EPS cannot.
Where EPS causes trouble
EPS support is shrinking, partly for security reasons: an EPS is a program, and running programs from strangers is risky.
- Microsoft turned off inserting EPS pictures in Office for Windows with a security update in April 2017.
- Current versions of macOS no longer preview EPS files. Apple directs users to other apps.
- Web browsers have never displayed it.
- Cricut Design Space does not accept it. Silhouette Studio opens it only in the Business Edition.
In practice an EPS needs a design program to open: Illustrator, CorelDRAW, Affinity Designer, or Inkscape with the free Ghostscript interpreter installed.
Which to use
| Job | Format |
|---|---|
| Website logo, icons, illustrations | SVG |
| Cricut, Silhouette, laser cutter, pen plotter | SVG |
| App or interface design | SVG |
| A printer asks for “vector artwork” | PDF or EPS: ask which they prefer |
| A printer asks for EPS | EPS |
| Spot colour printing | EPS or PDF |
| Sending a logo to someone who only needs to see it | PNG or PDF |
For a logo, keep one master and export the rest from it. A complete set is SVG for screens, PDF or EPS for print, and PNG for the places that take neither.
EPS, AI and SVG
AI is the working format of Adobe Illustrator. It keeps layers, effects and everything else needed to carry on editing, and it is the right format for a file that will be worked on again in Illustrator. Other programs open it with varying success. It is a poor choice for handing artwork over.
So: AI to keep working, SVG to use on screens and machines, EPS or PDF to send to print.
Converting between them
EPS to SVG. Open the EPS in a vector editor and save or export as SVG. The shapes stay as shapes, so nothing is lost in sharpness. Three things can change:
- CMYK and spot colours become RGB, and may shift a little.
- Areas that were transparent in the original design arrive already flattened, as many small pieces.
- Text may arrive as outlines that can no longer be edited.
For a cutting machine, check the result afterwards: it should be closed shapes in flat colours, with any pixel picture removed. The SVG viewer lists what a file contains.
SVG to EPS. The SVG to EPS page writes one in the browser from the shapes of an SVG, or open the SVG in a vector editor and save as EPS. Transparency, blurs and other effects have no equivalent in EPS and are flattened or turned into pixels, so check the result at full zoom. Plain shapes with solid fills convert exactly.
Either one to PNG or JPG is always possible, and often what is really wanted when the file is only going into a document or onto a website that refuses vector files: SVG to PNG.
Common problems
| What you see | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| An EPS will not open, or opens as a blank icon | No program on the computer reads PostScript | Open it in a vector editor, or ask for SVG or PDF |
| An EPS looks blocky in a document | The program is showing the low-resolution preview stored in the file | It prints properly on a PostScript printer; otherwise convert to PDF or SVG |
| Colours look different after converting to SVG | CMYK changed to RGB | Set the colours again in RGB |
| An SVG converted from EPS will not upload to a cutting program | Clipping paths or pictures in the file | Release the clipping paths and remove pictures in a vector editor |
Questions
Is SVG better quality than EPS? No. Both describe the same shapes with the same precision. The difference is where they can be used.
Can I rename .eps to .svg? No. The two are written in different languages. The file has to be opened and saved again in the other format.
Is EPS obsolete? For the web and for craft machines, yes. In print it is still widely accepted, though PDF is the more capable choice.
Which is better for Cricut, EPS or SVG? SVG. Design Space uploads SVG and DXF as cut-ready vector files and does not take EPS.