Question 1

What is SVG to Data URI for?

Accepted Answer

It encodes SVG markup into a data URI, either URL-encoded or Base64, that you can drop directly into a CSS background-image or an HTML src attribute without a separate file.

Question 2

Is my SVG sent to a server to be encoded?

Accepted Answer

No — the encoding happens entirely in your browser.

Question 3

Should I use URL-encoded or Base64 output?

Accepted Answer

URL-encoded data URIs are usually smaller and easier to read in CSS, while Base64 is more universally compatible but adds roughly 33% overhead to the encoded size.

Question 4

Why is my resulting data URI so long?

Accepted Answer

SVG markup with comments, extra whitespace, or verbose path data encodes to a proportionally long string, so minifying the SVG first will produce a shorter data URI.

Question 5

Is this tool free to use?

Accepted Answer

Yes, it's free and doesn't require an account.

Frequently asked questions about SVG to Data URI

What is SVG to Data URI for?

Is my SVG sent to a server to be encoded?

Should I use URL-encoded or Base64 output?

Why is my resulting data URI so long?

Is this tool free to use?