When building a strong brand identity, your logo is the star of the show. It’s often the first thing customers see, recognize, and remember about your business—and it significantly impacts their decision to buy. Over half of Gen Z and millennial shoppers reported purchasing a product because it had an interesting logo.
Ensure your logo stands out by using a resizable, high-quality vector logo. Learn what vector files are and how they help keep your brand looking its best across marketing channels.
What is a vector file?
A vector file is a graphic defined by mathematical equations, enabling it to scale to any size without losing quality. Traditional digital graphics, or raster images, rely on grids of fixed pixels, which limit their scalability and resolution. When you enlarge a raster logo file, it becomes pixelated; individual pixels become more visible, making the whole image blurry and incomprehensible.
Unlike raster images and other file formats, vector images use mathematical paths defined by a start and end point. Other points, lines, and curves throughout the path form each element of a unique image. This mathematical foundation means vector graphics maintain their resolution at any scale. When you resize a vector image, the file recalculates the elements of the image accordingly, automatically maintaining its resolution no matter the size or application.
If you’re designing a logo for your business, start with Shopify’s free logo maker tool, which has hundreds of templates, visual styles, and customization options to create your original logo design—and save it as a vector file.
Beneficial qualities of vector file formats
Vector file formats offer a range of benefits, from image optimization and design reproduction to consistency and editability:
Scalable
Scalability is the biggest advantage of vector file formats. Unlike standard raster images, vector files are infinitely scalable, maintaining their clarity and quality at any size. Your vector logo can be used on large-scale marketing opportunities like billboards or jumbotrons and smaller placements like product packaging or business cards.
With a vector file format, a single logo file is suitable for all branding elements, ensuring brand consistency across your marketing materials.
Exportable
You can export a vector file in multiple formats—including SVG, EPS, PDF, or even raster formats like JPG and PNG—without losing image quality. Raster files, by contrast, must be sized for specific purposes and platforms, and you cannot export typical raster formats to vector file formats.
Vector files also typically have a small file size because they store path data instead of pixels. A vector graphic’s smaller file size makes it ideal for web use, where fast page load times improve user experience.
Flexible
Unlike other file formats, you can easily modify an existing logo in a vector file format with design software like Adobe Illustrator or AI design tools. This flexibility lets you make minor tweaks to your established brand logo to suit various marketing contexts. For example, if your logo is featured in a brand partnership, you can edit the colors and formatting to match any new specifications rather than starting from scratch. Most vector files also support transparency, allowing you to place your business logo on any background.
Most brands will update their logo design as their brand guidelines evolve with changing business priorities and target audiences. You can alter a logo originally created in a vector format, changing the text, color, size, shape, or overall design. A vector format allows your visual identity to grow alongside your business.
4 main vector file types
You can save vector files in various formats. Each vector file type has different benefits and use cases, from professional printing to web design. Choose the proper format to maintain design integrity across platforms:
AI
AI vector files are proprietary to Adobe Illustrator, a design program for creating complex vector images. You can use Adobe Illustrator to create and edit graphics, including logo design and branding materials. It has a “transparency” option during export, letting you place your logo on different backgrounds without a visible box or outline.
EPS
Designers often use EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) vector files because of their compatibility with multiple graphic design software platforms and output quality. EPS files often serve as a master file, preserving full design details for professional printing. They also support transparent backgrounds, which adds flexibility and ensures your design can print against different backgrounds.
SVG
SVG (Scalable Vector Graphic) image files maintain high clarity on any screen resolution and are primarily for web design. They are widely compatible and supported by all web browsers across various types of devices and software. SVG files also support transparent backgrounds, making them ideal for logos on dynamic websites or mobile apps.
PDF (Portable Document Format) is a versatile vector format for everything from logos and graphics to documents and books. A single PDF file can contain both vector and raster graphics, support transparency, and seamlessly convert into other image file formats, making it convenient for use across both online and print media applications.
You can view PDFs in many programs (such as Adobe Acrobat Reader, web browsers, or a finder window), letting users without access to editing software easily use the files. Because of their broad accessibility, users can view and share PDF proofs of logos before print. However, PDFs have nearly non-existent creation or editing options, so keep the original AI or EPS file for future logo redesigns.
Vector file logo FAQ
How do I know if a logo is a vector?
It’s easy to tell if a logo is a vector; simply zoom in on the image. If the level of clarity does not change as you continue to zoom in, it’s likely a vector logo. Raster logos will become visibly pixelated when enlarged. Also check the file’s native format; vector logos will have file extensions like .AI, .EPS, .SVG, or .PDF.
What’s the difference between a vector file and a raster file?
A vector file comprises mathematical formulas that define the elements of an image, allowing infinite resizing without losing clarity. A raster file has fixed pixels and becomes blurry when enlarged. These different formats serve unique purposes: vector files are ideal for logos and graphics, while raster files are typically better for photographs.
How do I convert a JPEG to a vector file?
Programs like Adobe Illustrator or free online converters can convert a JPEG to a vector file.
