Which formats are true vector file formats?
Adobe lists SVG, EPS and AI among the vector file types, with PDF treated separately as a page format. Here is what each one actually is.
| Format | What it is | Who can open it | Holds true vector? |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI | Adobe's proprietary Illustrator file. Adobe says it keeps layering, transparency, intertwines, repeats, effects and other native Illustrator functions editable where other file types do not | Illustrator fully; other apps can view it if it was saved with PDF compatibility turned on | Yes, and the most editable of the four |
| EPS | Encapsulated PostScript, which Adobe developed in the late 1980s to place graphics inside text based documents. Adobe calls it a vector format traditionally used for professional, high quality commercial printing | Illustrator and most professional layout and RIP software. Photoshop opens it, but rasterizes it | Yes, but it can also carry bitmap data inside |
| SVG | Scalable Vector Graphics, a W3C standard. The specification calls it "a language for describing two dimensional graphics" and says it allows three types of graphic object: vector shapes, images and text | Every modern browser, plus Illustrator, Inkscape, Affinity and most design tools | Yes, and it is plain XML you can read |
| Adobe's Portable Document Format, standardized as ISO 32000, with PDF/X as the special purpose standard for printing | Almost anything, which is why it travels well | Usually, if it was made from vector artwork. A scanned PDF holds a photograph |
AI, EPS and PDF are closely related in practice. Adobe notes that an AI file saved with PDF compatibility works as both an editable source file and a production file at the same time, which is why a single file can often be opened by a designer and placed by a printer.
Which formats are raster, even when they look sharp?
Most of the files that arrive labeled "logo" are raster. Adobe lists JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP and TIFF as raster types, built from a fixed number of pixels rather than from equations.
- JPG (JPEG): supports up to 24 bit color and uses lossy compression. Adobe notes that images with clean edges and lines lose some of their sharpness in that compression, which is exactly the wrong behavior for a logo. Every resave loses a little more.
- PNG: lossless and supports transparency, which is why so many logos circulate as transparent PNGs. Adobe notes PNG does not support CMYK color modes, so transferring a PNG to print can prove difficult, and PNG files are generally much larger than JPEG or GIF.
- TIFF, BMP and GIF: raster too. A high resolution TIFF is a good scan, not a vector file.
Both formats are containers. Someone can drop a JPG into Illustrator, save as EPS, and hand over a file that opens, prints and looks correct at one size. Zoom to 800 percent on a curved edge before you trust any supplied file, or open it in our free EPS and AI file viewer. The full test is in raster vs vector.
Do fonts have to be outlined?
Live text in a vector file is still text. It needs the font file to be installed wherever the file is opened, or the application substitutes another face and the design changes shape without warning. The W3C SVG specification states the problem directly: proper text rendering may depend on using the same font as used during authoring.
Converting text to outlines turns each character into ordinary paths, so the artwork is fixed no matter who opens it. Screen printers ask for this as standard, because a substituted font is not always obvious until the screens are burned. The trade off is that outlined text can no longer be edited or corrected by typing, so it is worth keeping a live text master and sending outlined copies.
SVG is the exception worth knowing about. The specification stores text as character data inside the text element, which is why a browser can search, select and copy it. Outline it and that goes away, along with the accessibility benefit. For a web logo, keep the text live and embed a web font; for anything going to a press, outline it.
Which color spaces do the vector formats carry?
The format decides what kind of color information can travel with the artwork, and that decides how much guessing happens at the other end.
- AI, EPS and PDF are built for print workflows, so they carry CMYK process color and named spot color swatches alongside RGB. A spot color placed in one of these files arrives at the printer as a named ink, not as an approximation.
- SVG is a web format. The SVG 2 specification removed its own color chapter and defers color formats and color profiles to the CSS Color module, so an SVG describes screen color. It has no concept of a named printing ink, which is why an SVG is a poor master for a spot color print job even though it is a perfectly good vector file.
- PNG does not support CMYK at all, as Adobe notes, so a PNG can never be the color reference for a print run.
The practical rule: whatever you keep as your master, record the color references separately as Pantone numbers. Colors that are matched to a reference rather than sampled from a screen are the difference between a print that matches your brand and one that is close. How that plays out on a press is covered in vector art for screen printing.
Which vector file should you send us?
For most jobs, send whichever of these you have and we will work from it:
- AI if it exists. It carries the most information, including layers and live text.
- EPS or a vector PDF if the AI has been lost. Both place cleanly in print workflows.
- SVG if the logo came from a web or brand kit handoff.
- Anything at all if none of the above exist. A photograph of a printed shirt or a small compressed JPG is enough for us to redraw from, because we rebuild the shapes rather than trace the pixels.
Tell us the finished size and, if you know them, the Pantone references. If you need a scalable master for general use, that is vector art conversion; if all you have is a compressed or faded image, see JPG to vector conversion. Files are redrawn by hand, never auto-traced, and checked by a second artist. For embroidery, our artwork requirements for embroidery digitizing lists what helps. The rest of the cluster sits in the vector artwork guides.
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Sources
- Adobe: AI file format
- Adobe: EPS file format
- Adobe: PNG file format (no CMYK support)
- Adobe: about Adobe PDF (ISO 32000, PDF/X)
- W3C: SVG 2 specification, introduction and text chapters
Sources checked 21 September 2026.