SVG vs PNG for logos — which file do you actually need?

Most first-time founders get a logo as a single JPG and then discover, six months later, that it looks blurry on a billboard, breaks on a dark website, and can't be recolored without a designer. The format you receive matters as much as the mark itself.

The short answer

You need both. SVG for anything that scales, PNG for anything that needs a fixed pixel size. Never JPG.

SVG: the master file

SVG stands for Scalable Vector Graphics. Instead of storing a grid of colored dots, it stores the shapes themselves as math — paths, circles, curves.

What that buys you:

• Infinite scaling. The same file works at 16px in a browser tab and 4 meters on a storefront sign.
• Tiny file size. A typical logo SVG is 2–10 KB. The PNG equivalent at print resolution can be 500 KB or more.
• Recoloring with a text editor. Every fill color is written out in plain text, so changing a brand color takes seconds.
• Crisp on any screen. No blurring on retina displays or when a browser zooms in.

Where SVG is the only sane choice:

• Website headers and footers
• App icons on modern platforms (with a PNG fallback)
• Print: business cards, packaging, signage, merch
• Anywhere a designer will edit the logo later

PNG: the practical workhorse

PNG is a raster format — a fixed grid of pixels. It supports transparency, which JPG does not, and it is universally accepted.

Export these sizes and you will rarely be caught out:

• 1024×1024 — app stores, social profile pictures
• 512×512 — general high-resolution use
• 256×256 — email signatures, documents
• 64×64 and 32×32 — favicons, small UI spots

Two variants of each: one on transparent background, one on white.

Where PNG wins:

• Social media uploads (most platforms still reject or mishandle SVG)
• Email signatures, where SVG support is inconsistent
• Favicons on older browsers
• Places where you need a guaranteed exact pixel size

Why JPG is the wrong format

JPG was designed for photographs. It has no transparency, and it compresses by throwing away detail around edges — exactly where a logo lives. A JPG logo gets a fuzzy halo around every letter, and it gets worse every time it is re-saved.

If someone sends you a logo as JPG, ask for the vector original.

A quick readiness checklist

Before you print anything or hand files to a developer, confirm you have:

• A vector file (SVG or PDF)
• A transparent PNG at 1024px or larger
• A version that works on dark backgrounds (light or knocked-out mark)
• A version that works in one color, for stamps, embroidery and single-color print
• Written confirmation of the commercial license

That last point is the one people forget. A logo you cannot legally use on a product is not an asset, it is a liability. Every Logofast brand kit includes the vector master, transparent PNGs and a commercial license for unlimited projects — that combination is what makes a logo usable rather than merely pretty.