HTML5 Canvas vs. SVG - SVG - Canvas - Comparison of Canvas and SVG

Both canvas and SVG allow you to create graphics inside the browser, but they are fundamentally different.

SVG

SVG is a language for describing 2D graphics in XML.

SVG is XML based, which means that every element is available within the SVG DOM. You can attach JavaScript event handlers for an element.

In SVG, each drawn shape is remembered as an object. If attributes of an SVG object are changed, the browser can automatically re-render the shape.

Canvas

Canvas draws 2D graphics, on the fly (with a JavaScript).

Canvas is rendered pixel by pixel.

In canvas, once the graphic is drawn, it is forgotten by the browser. If its position should be changed, the entire scene needs to be redrawn, including any objects that might have been covered by the graphic.

Comparison of Canvas and SVG

The table below shows some important differences between canvas and SVG.

Canvas	SVG
Resolution dependent No support for event handlers Poor text rendering capabilities You can save the resulting image as .png or .jpg Best suited for graphic-intensive games where many objects are redrawn frequently	Resolution independent Support for event handlers Best suited for applications with large rendering areas (Google Maps) Slow rendering if complex (anything that uses the DOM a lot will be slow) Not suited for game applications