i have seen lots of ppl writing about svg images, e.g. at kde-look.org....but what is it really...and what is the difference from jpg, png and so on?

thanks

Have you ever looked at www.svg.org?

svg stands for 'scalable vector graphics', it is a xml-based standard for saving vector graphics. Both jpg and png are formats bitmap grahics. The main difference is that bitmap graphics file consist of the picture itself, basically a color code for every pixels (OK, they are compressed and iclude different extra information). These are ideal formats for e.g. photographs.

Vector graphics is stored not as a picture but as a rule: draw a line, a circle, fill with a color etc. It is well suited for graph-like pictures (figures, logos, icons...). The main advantage is that they are scalable -- they can zoomed arbitrarily much. Bitmap images lose the precision, you can see it playing around with gimp and sodipodi.

Best,

Ott

ah, so it because of the scalability the svg format is used for icons and wallpapers...so one icon can be used for all sizes, and not loose the crispness
i'll have a look at the website as well
thanks!