What is the MIME type of .svg files?
The MIME type (media type) for SVG image files with the .svg extension is image/svg+xml. SVG is text, so gzip/Brotli shrink it well. Serving user-uploaded SVG from your main domain is risky because SVG can contain scripts — use a separate domain or sanitise uploads.
Content-Type header
Content-Type: image/svg+xml; charset=utf-8Text-based types should include a charset so the browser decodes characters correctly.
Server configuration
| Server | Configuration |
|---|---|
Nginx (mime.types or types {}) | image/svg+xml svg; |
Apache (.htaccess) | AddType image/svg+xml .svg |
IIS (web.config) | <mimeMap fileExtension=".svg" mimeType="image/svg+xml" /> |
| Node.js / Express | res.type('svg') or res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'image/svg+xml; charset=utf-8') |
| Amazon S3 | Set Content-Type: image/svg+xml on the object (metadata), or pass --content-type image/svg+xml to aws s3 cp |
Should .svg files be compressed?
Yes. SVG image is text, so enabling gzip or Brotli for image/svg+xml typically saves 50–80 % of the transfer size. Make sure your server’s compression list includes this type — check with the website compression test.
Why the MIME type matters
Browsers decide what to do with a response — render, run, play or download — from the Content-Type header, not the file extension. With X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff, a wrong type causes stylesheets and scripts to be blocked outright. For uploads, never trust the type sent by the client; check the file’s content (its magic bytes) on the server.
Frequently asked questions
What is the MIME type for .svg?
image/svg+xml.How do I set the Content-Type for .svg in Nginx?
image/svg+xml svg; is listed in the types block (usually in /etc/nginx/mime.types) and reload Nginx.