Compare SVG vs PNG and you will see how website performance change

So I need to tell you guys about this mistake I made. For way too long - like embarrassingly long - I was just grabbing PNG icons from wherever and throwing them on my websites. If they looked okay on my laptop, I thought "cool, job done."

Man, was I wrong about that.

When Reality Hit Me Hard

Picture this: I'm working on a client's website last month. Everything seems fine, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Then my client calls me up and goes "Hey, your icons look really blurry on my phone. And why does your site take so long to load?"

I felt like hiding under my desk. But you know what? They were totally right.

That phone call changed everything for me.

What I Found Out (The Hard Truth)

I opened up my browser tools and started checking what was going on. My website that I thought looked so good? It was loading super slow - like really, really slow.

The problem? Those PNG icons I thought were so smart to use. When you have 20 or more icons on one page, and each one is 15-30KB in size, it adds up quick. Really quick.

But here's what really got me - my friend opened my site on his big work monitor. Those sharp, clean icons I was so proud of? They looked like a kid drew them with broken crayons. Just fuzzy and awful looking.

I knew I had to fix this mess.

SVG Saved My Life (Seriously)

I kept hearing people talk about SVG but I always thought it was too complicated for someone like me. I thought "that's probably just for the really technical people."

Boy, was I wrong again.

When I finally tried SVG, here's what happened:

My file sizes got tiny. That 25KB PNG icon became just 2KB as SVG. Same exact look, but 92% smaller. Even I could see that was huge.

Everything looked perfect everywhere. Phone, tablet, big monitor - didnt matter anymore. The icons stayed sharp and clear on every device. No more fuzzy, blurry icons.

My website got fast. When all my icons went from 500KB total down to just 40KB, people noticed right away. My speed scores jumped from 67 to 89 just from this change.

I could change them easily. Want an icon to change color when someone puts their mouse over it? With PNG, you cant do that. With SVG, its just simple CSS code. Mind blown.

How I Actually Did It (Super Easy)

Changing from PNG to SVG wasnt scary at all. Most times I just did this:

Found the PNG icon I was using

Looked for the same icon as SVG (usually on the same website)

Copied the SVG code and put it right in my HTML

Added some simple CSS to make it look good

For icons I couldnt find in SVG, I used online tools to convert them. They work pretty well for simple graphics.

The best part? I learned I could put the SVG code right inside my HTML instead of having separate image files. No more <img src="icon.png"> tags everywhere. The SVG just becomes part of your webpage, so the browser doesnt have to go get it from somewhere else.

Real Results That Made Me Happy

Here's the part that really convinced me. I was building an online store with about 50 different category icons. All those PNG files together were 1.2MB - thats huge! After I changed them all to SVG? Just 95KB total.

My client noticed immediately. "Did you make the server faster? Everything loads so much quicker now."

Nope, I just stopped using the wrong image format.

When SVG Isnt the Right Choice

Look, SVG isnt perfect for everything. Let me be honest about that.

If you have really detailed pictures with lots of colors and photo-like effects, stick with PNG or JPG. SVG files for those would be huge and defeat the whole point.

Also, if you need to support really old web browsers, you might need backup plans. But honestly, most people have updated browsers now.

Tools That Made This Easy

I didnt do all this work by myself. These tools helped me a lot:

SVGOMG for making SVG files smaller (this tool is amazing)

Online PNG to SVG converters - some work better than others

This free SVG checker tool that helped me:

https://www.webutilitylabs.com/p/free-svg-accessibility-checker-and.html

make sure my graphics work for everyone, including people who use screen readers

Good design software when I needed to make custom graphics

My Advice: Start Small

Listen, dont make the same mistake I did and try to convert your entire website in one weekend. I stayed up way too late trying to do everything at once and honestly, it was a mess. Just pick something small to start with - like those little icons in your navigation or maybe your social media buttons. Do those first and see what happens.

When you see how much faster everything loads and how tiny those file sizes get, you'll probably end up wanting to change everything else anyway. But trust me, taking it slow is way better.

What I Really Think About All This

Look, I'm definitely not some SVG guru or anything like that. I'm just a guy who builds websites and got really frustrated with slow loading times and fuzzy icons that looked terrible. Switching over to SVG for basic graphics turned out to be one of those decisions that made me wonder why I waited so long.

Your website visitors will notice the faster loading. Your speed test scores will get better. And youll never worry about icons looking bad on different screens again.

Trust me on this - once you switch to SVG for icons and simple graphics, you wont want to go back. I just wish I had done this years ago.

Have you switched to SVG yet? Still thinking about it? Leave a comment below - I'd love to hear your thoughts or answer any questions you have.