Logo file formats: AI, EPS, SVG, PNG and when each is needed
What a person encounters when receiving a logo from a designer
Usually, this happens: a designer sends an archive with 15-20 files with incomprehensible names, and the client gets confused — which one is needed for the website, which one for outdoor advertising, and which one should not be touched at all. It is easier to sort out if you immediately divide everything into two camps: vector formats (AI, EPS, SVG, PDF) and raster (PNG, JPG). Vector is described by mathematical formulas — lines, curves, points — and scales without quality loss up to billboard size. Raster is a grid of pixels, and when the image is enlarged, it starts to "square up".
AI — Adobe Illustrator source file, designer's working file. EPS — old print standard 1987 year, still used by many print shops, although gradually yielding to PDF/X-1a and PDF/X-4 — formats that better manage color profiles and embedded fonts. SVG — vector format for the web based on XML code, which has an obscure advantage: search engines can read text inside such a file if the logo contains text typed not with curves but with real letters — this is a small but real plus for SEO site.
What format is needed for printing — and why this is not PNG
For business cards, banners, stickers and any print need vector — EPS or PDF exported from AI. Requirements are strict and not open to discussion with the print shop manager:
- Resolution 300 DPI at final print size — not at export, but exactly at the size at which the image will go to the printing press
- Color model CMYK, not RGB — screens show color through light, printing press — through color mixing, and palettes do not physically match
- Fonts converted to curves, if the logo contains a text set
The rules are a bit more relaxed for banners and outdoor advertising — here they look not at DPI, but at the resolving power in dots per inch, taking into account the viewing distance, but the principle is the same: the file must be vector, so that the typography itself rasterizes it for the required print press size.
Why a stretched PNG doesn't help
A raster file contains a fixed number of pixels, defined at the time of creation. If the source is saved at 800×600 points, no increase in DPI in the export settings will add real detail — the program simply "spreads" the existing pixels over a larger area, hence the characteristic blur during printing. EPS and PDF work differently: they store the logo as a formula, not as a grid, so the typography calculates the resolution itself, according to the required print size.
How to export a logo from Illustrator without losing quality
Proper export is not "File → Save As," but a sequence of actions with control over each parameter:
- Check that all text has been converted to curves: select the object → Type → Create Outlines. Without this step, the typography will open the file with replacement of fonts with system ones — the logo will get distorted
- Consolidate or organize layers into a clear hierarchy — if the file has dozens of unnamed groups and unchecked trial variants, this is no longer a working source, but a decorative container from which it is difficult to reuse anything
- For print: File → Save As → EPS or Adobe PDF, select standard PDF/X-1a (for CMYK-printing with verified color profile) or PDF/X-4 (if transparency and layers support is needed)
- For web: File → Export → Export As → SVG, disable unnecessary metadata in settings, verify that styles are not hard-bound to CSS classes, if the logo is embedded on various websites
- For raster: File → Export → Export As → PNG, enable transparent background, set resolution 2x and 3x from the base size — this is needed for Retina displays, where the physical number of pixels on the screen is 2-3 times more than standard
- Check color profile before saving: Edit → Assign Profile — for web this is sRGB, for print CMYK with the profile that the printer will specify (usually ISO Coated v2 or FOGRA39)
Is JPG needed if there is PNG
Almost never should a logo exist in JPG — this format uses lossy compression and does not support transparency, which is why a logo on any background, except a white rectangle, will look like a sticker with a frame. The only justified case is email signatures and lightweight documents where file size is important and the background under the logo is known to be solid-colored. In all other situations, PNG-8 is sufficient for a simple flat logo without gradients (up to 256 colors), PNG-24 is needed if there are gradients or semi-transparency in the logo — the file is larger but the colors are transmitted without distortion.
| Format | Type | Where to use | Cannot be used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI | vector | source, editing, handing over to another designer | direct sending to client without export |
| EPS / PDF | vector | printing, typography, large-format advertising | web pages (not read directly by the browser) |
| SVG | vector | websites, icons, responsive design | sending to a printing house without conversion |
| PNG | raster | social networks, presentations, documents, screens | large-format printing |
| JPG | raster | solid-colored background, lightweight files for email | logo on a transparent or complex background |
How to store a logo so as not to search for the correct file every time from scratch
A year after the brand launch, the folder usually contains chaos: logo_final.ai, logo_final_v2.ai, logo_new.ai — and nobody remembers which one is the current version. This is solved by a simple folder structure and a clear naming system from day one.
- The top-level folder according to the brand: Logo_2024, inside — Source (AI files only, layers flattened, nothing extra), Print (EPS/PDF in CMYK), Web (SVG, PNG in RGB, separately 1x/2x/3x for retina)
- File naming based on color model and purpose: logo_cmyk_print.eps, logo_rgb_web.svg, logo_white_transparent.png — not 'final' or 'new', but specific content-based naming
- A separate folder Archive with a date in the name for old versions — they are not deleted because in six months there might be a need to check what changed
Versioning should be maintained not in the file name, but in a separate text document — a change log: date, what was changed, who approved it. This saves time when a logo is slightly edited — adjusted line thickness, changed shade — and a year later nobody can explain where the widespread version came from in partners' materials or in old printed materials.
What a person encounters when receiving a logo from a designer
Usually, this happens: a designer sends an archive with 15-20 files with incomprehensible names, and the client gets confused — which one is needed for the website, which one for outdoor advertising, and which one should not be touched at all. It is easier to sort out if you immediately divide everything into two camps: vector formats (AI, EPS, SVG, PDF) and raster (PNG, JPG). Vector is described by mathematical formulas — lines, curves, points — and scales without quality loss up to billboard size. Raster is a grid of pixels, and when the image is enlarged, it starts to "square up".
AI — Adobe Illustrator source file, designer's working file. EPS — old print standard 1987 year, still used by many print shops, although gradually yielding to PDF/X-1a and PDF/X-4 — formats that better manage color profiles and embedded fonts. SVG — vector format for the web based on XML code, which has an obscure advantage: search engines can read text inside such a file if the logo contains text typed not with curves but with real letters — this is a small but real plus for SEO site.
What format is needed for printing — and why this is not PNG
For business cards, banners, stickers and any print need vector — EPS or PDF exported from AI. Requirements are strict and not open to discussion with the print shop manager:
- Resolution 300 DPI at final print size — not at export, but exactly at the size at which the image will go to the printing press
- Color model CMYK, not RGB — screens show color through light, printing press — through color mixing, and palettes do not physically match
- Fonts converted to curves, if the logo contains a text set
The rules are a bit more relaxed for banners and outdoor advertising — here they look not at DPI, but at the resolving power in dots per inch, taking into account the viewing distance, but the principle is the same: the file must be vector, so that the typography itself rasterizes it for the required print press size.
Why a stretched PNG doesn't help
A raster file contains a fixed number of pixels, defined at the time of creation. If the source is saved at 800×600 points, no increase in DPI in the export settings will add real detail — the program simply "spreads" the existing pixels over a larger area, hence the characteristic blur during printing. EPS and PDF work differently: they store the logo as a formula, not as a grid, so the typography calculates the resolution itself, according to the required print size.
How to export a logo from Illustrator without losing quality
Proper export is not "File → Save As," but a sequence of actions with control over each parameter:
- Check that all text has been converted to curves: select the object → Type → Create Outlines. Without this step, the typography will open the file with replacement of fonts with system ones — the logo will get distorted
- Consolidate or organize layers into a clear hierarchy — if the file has dozens of unnamed groups and unchecked trial variants, this is no longer a working source, but a decorative container from which it is difficult to reuse anything
- For print: File → Save As → EPS or Adobe PDF, select standard PDF/X-1a (for CMYK-printing with verified color profile) or PDF/X-4 (if transparency and layers support is needed)
- For web: File → Export → Export As → SVG, disable unnecessary metadata in settings, verify that styles are not hard-bound to CSS classes, if the logo is embedded on various websites
- For raster: File → Export → Export As → PNG, enable transparent background, set resolution 2x and 3x from the base size — this is needed for Retina displays, where the physical number of pixels on the screen is 2-3 times more than standard
- Check color profile before saving: Edit → Assign Profile — for web this is sRGB, for print CMYK with the profile that the printer will specify (usually ISO Coated v2 or FOGRA39)
Is JPG needed if there is PNG
Almost never should a logo exist in JPG — this format uses lossy compression and does not support transparency, which is why a logo on any background, except a white rectangle, will look like a sticker with a frame. The only justified case is email signatures and lightweight documents where file size is important and the background under the logo is known to be solid-colored. In all other situations, PNG-8 is sufficient for a simple flat logo without gradients (up to 256 colors), PNG-24 is needed if there are gradients or semi-transparency in the logo — the file is larger but the colors are transmitted without distortion.
| Format | Type | Where to use | Cannot be used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI | vector | source, editing, handing over to another designer | direct sending to client without export |
| EPS / PDF | vector | printing, typography, large-format advertising | web pages (not read directly by the browser) |
| SVG | vector | websites, icons, responsive design | sending to a printing house without conversion |
| PNG | raster | social networks, presentations, documents, screens | large-format printing |
| JPG | raster | solid-colored background, lightweight files for email | logo on a transparent or complex background |
How to store a logo so as not to search for the correct file every time from scratch
A year after the brand launch, the folder usually contains chaos: logo_final.ai, logo_final_v2.ai, logo_new.ai — and nobody remembers which one is the current version. This is solved by a simple folder structure and a clear naming system from day one.
- The top-level folder according to the brand: Logo_2024, inside — Source (AI files only, layers flattened, nothing extra), Print (EPS/PDF in CMYK), Web (SVG, PNG in RGB, separately 1x/2x/3x for retina)
- File naming based on color model and purpose: logo_cmyk_print.eps, logo_rgb_web.svg, logo_white_transparent.png — not 'final' or 'new', but specific content-based naming
- A separate folder Archive with a date in the name for old versions — they are not deleted because in six months there might be a need to check what changed
Versioning should be maintained not in the file name, but in a separate text document — a change log: date, what was changed, who approved it. This saves time when a logo is slightly edited — adjusted line thickness, changed shade — and a year later nobody can explain where the widespread version came from in partners' materials or in old printed materials.
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