The W3C began work on SVG in the late 1990s, but SVG only became popular when Internet Explorer 9 came out with SVG support. All major browsers now support SVG.

Based on an XML syntax, SVG can be styled with CSS and made interactive using JavaScript . HTML allows direct embedding of SVG tags in an HTML document.

As a vector image format , SVG graphics can scale infinitely, making them invaluable in responsive design , since you can create interface elements and graphics that scale to any screen size. SVG also provides a useful set of tools, such as clipping, masking, filters, and animations.