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SVG Favicon Compatibility in Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer does not support SVG favicons. Learn what that means for vector logo files and how to pair an SVG icon with an ICO fallback.

Published

Contents
  1. The short answer
  2. What is being compared
  3. Practical implications for favicon delivery
  4. Using a logo as the source artwork
  5. Evidence gaps

The short answer

Internet Explorer does not support SVG favicons in any version. If a site declares only an SVG icon, Internet Explorer will not display it. Instead, it falls back to a raster icon, most reliably a favicon.ico file, or shows its generic page icon if none is available.

Internet Explorer has also been retired by Microsoft and replaced by Edge, which is based on Chromium and does support SVG favicons. For most sites today, the question is whether a legacy-safe fallback is still worth shipping, not whether SVG works in Internet Explorer.

What is being compared

An SVG favicon is a small vector file, usually derived from a logo mark, that the browser renders at whatever size the tab, bookmark or shortcut needs. An ICO favicon is a container that holds one or more fixed-size raster bitmaps. Internet Explorer was built around the ICO format, and that is the format to rely on when it has to be covered.

A file ending in .svg is not automatically vector artwork. SVG files can wrap an embedded raster image, such as a pasted PNG or JPEG, inside the SVG markup. That kind of file loses the scaling benefits of true vector paths. Before using a logo file as an SVG favicon, open it in a vector editor or inspect its markup to confirm it contains paths and shapes rather than an embedded bitmap.

Practical implications for favicon delivery

  • Ship a favicon.ico alongside the SVG icon if any visitors may still use Internet Explorer or other older browsers.
  • Place favicon.ico at the site root. Browsers, Internet Explorer included, have long requested it from that location by convention, even without a declaration.
  • Treat the ICO as a raster export made from the vector master. Generate it at small pixel sizes from clean vector artwork rather than resampling a large raster preview.
  • Keep the SVG version simple. Fine details and thin strokes in a full logo often disappear at tab size, so a simplified mark usually reads better.

A common markup pattern declares both files. Browsers that understand SVG icons can choose the vector version, while older browsers use the ICO:

<link rel="icon" href="favicon.ico" sizes="any">
<link rel="icon" href="icon.svg" type="image/svg+xml">

Exact selection behavior differs across browsers. Test the result in the browsers your audience actually uses before relying on the pattern.

Using a logo as the source artwork

Being able to download a logo file is not the same as having permission to modify it, crop it into an icon, or use its fonts and trademarks. If the favicon is derived from artwork you do not own, confirm that the license or brand guidelines allow that adaptation.

Evidence gaps

No version-by-version test data, usage statistics or browser share figures were provided for this assessment. The guidance above rests on the generally documented lack of SVG favicon support in Internet Explorer and on standard fallback practice. Whether an ICO fallback is necessary for a particular site depends on that site's own visitor data, which is not covered here.