Guide
Vector vs Raster: A Practical Guide
Why some images stay sharp at any size and others don’t — and how to move between the two.
3 chapters8 min totalUpdated May 2026
Two ways to describe an image
Raster images (PNG, JPG, WebP) are grids of pixels. Vector images (SVG) are shapes described by math, so they stay crisp at any scale.
Logos and icons are usually vector; photographs are always raster.
When to rasterize
Many tools — email clients, older editors, social platforms — can’t display SVG. Rasterizing to PNG at the resolution you need makes a vector image work everywhere.
Choose a scale that matches the destination: 2x for standard screens, 4x for retina or print.
TipKeep the original SVG. Once rasterized, you can’t recover the crisp, scalable version.
You can’t go back the easy way
There’s no reliable automatic path from a photo-like PNG back to clean vectors. Tracing exists but rarely matches a hand-made SVG.
Design in vector when you can, and rasterize as a final export step.