What format should a logo be?
A logo needs to look perfect everywhere — tiny in a browser tab, huge on a banner, and clean on any background. No single file does all of that, so the practical answer is a pair: SVG as the master and PNG as the raster fallback. Use the SVG wherever it's accepted, and reach for the PNG only when a platform won't take vectors. The one format to skip for logos is JPG, for the reasons below.
| Format | Scales cleanly? | Transparency? | Good for logos? |
|---|---|---|---|
| SVG | Yes — vector, any size | Yes | Best — use as the master |
| PNG | Only down, not up | Yes | Good — raster fallback |
| JPG | Only down, not up | No | Avoid — no transparency, blurs edges |
Why is SVG the best master format for logos?
SVG is a vector format: it stores your logo as mathematical shapes rather than a fixed grid of pixels. That means it renders perfectly sharp at any size, from a 16px favicon to a wall-sized billboard, from one file. It also tends to be tiny, and because it's really just markup you can restyle it with CSS — swap colours for dark mode or hover states without re-exporting. Learn more in what is an SVG, or compare the two directly in PNG vs SVG.
Why PNG and not JPG for a raster logo?
When a platform won't take an SVG, you need a raster file — and PNG is the right one. PNG keeps a fully transparent background and uses lossless compression, so the hard edges and text in a logo stay crisp. JPG fails on both counts: it has no transparency, so it bakes in a solid rectangle of background, and its lossy compression smears the sharp lines and lettering with fuzzy artefacts. If you already have a logo as an SVG or a flat image, you can make the background transparent and export a clean PNG.
What about favicons and app icons?
Browser tabs and app stores have their own needs. For favicons you generally want an ICO file, which can hold several small sizes in one file so the browser always picks a crisp one — you can convert a PNG to ICO or build a full set with the favicon generator. App stores and home-screen icons typically ask for PNGs at fixed sizes, so keep high-resolution PNG exports of your logo on hand.
How do I export and keep transparency?
Transparency is what lets a logo sit on any background without a visible box. Always export to a format that supports an alpha channel — SVG or PNG — and never flatten to JPG along the way, since that replaces transparent pixels with a solid colour. If a logo arrives with a white or coloured background, you can remove the background before saving the PNG. New to the format? Start with what is a PNG.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the best file format for a logo?
- SVG is the best master format because it is vector and stays sharp at any size. Keep a PNG export as your raster fallback for places that don't accept SVG.
- Should a logo be PNG or JPG?
- PNG. It keeps a transparent background and crisp edges, while JPG has no transparency and its lossy compression smears the sharp lines and text a logo depends on.
- Can I use a JPG logo on a colored background?
- Not cleanly. A JPG has no transparency, so it carries a solid rectangle of background colour. On any non-matching background you'll see an ugly box around the logo.
- What size should a PNG logo be?
- Export the PNG at the largest size you'll display it, then scale down. Because PNG is raster, scaling a small PNG up makes it blurry — start big and shrink as needed.