Easy SVG
What Easy SVG Support does, why SVG files need cleaning before WordPress stores them, and how uploads and your own icon library fit together.
Easy SVG Support lets you upload SVG files to WordPress safely and keep your own icons in one place. This page explains what the plugin does, the few words you will meet in every guide, and where to go next.
What is an SVG, and why is it special?
An SVG (Scalable Vector Graphic) is an image that stays sharp at every size. Logos and icons are often SVGs, because one small file looks crisp on a phone and on a 4K screen.
Unlike a PNG or JPEG, an SVG is not a grid of pixels. It is a text file written in XML, a markup language similar to HTML. That makes it flexible, but also risky: an SVG can carry scripts, hidden links and references to other websites. Anyone who opens such a file in a browser could run that code. This is why WordPress refuses SVG uploads on its own.
Easy SVG Support solves this by sanitizing every SVG. Sanitizing means cleaning: the plugin reads the file, keeps only drawing instructions it knows are harmless and throws away everything else. A file it cannot clean is refused.
What you get
| Feature | What it does for you |
|---|---|
| SVG uploads | Upload SVG files in the media library and the block editor, like a PNG. |
| Automatic sanitizing | Every SVG is cleaned before it is stored. You cannot switch this off. |
| A size limit | Files above the limit you set are refused, so one huge file cannot slow your site down. |
| A safety net | SVGs that reach the media library by other ways (importers, other plugins) are checked once more. |
| Previews | SVGs show as real thumbnails in the media library. |
| Icon library | Keep your own icons under Icons → Icon library and use them in the Icon block, with a shortcode or in PHP. |
Words you will see in these guides
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Sanitizing | Cleaning an SVG so that only harmless drawing code is left. |
| Allow-list | The list of SVG tags and attributes the sanitizer keeps. Everything not on it is removed. |
| Icon library | Your own icons, stored inside WordPress and available on the whole site. |
| Address (slug) | The short, unique name of an icon, made of lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens, for example easy-svg/heart. Templates and blocks use it to find the icon. |
| Collection | A named group of icons. The free plugin has one collection, called Easy SVG. Easy SVG Pro adds as many as you like. |
How it fits together
Free or Pro?
The free plugin is enough when you want safe SVG uploads and a small icon library on one site. Easy SVG Pro is for agencies and larger sites.
| You want to... | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Upload SVGs safely | Yes | Yes |
| Keep your own icons and use them in the Icon block | One collection | Unlimited collections (sets) |
| Import a whole ZIP, an icon font or Font Awesome | No | Yes |
| Move icons between sites as one file | No | Yes, as icon packs |
| Find and clean SVGs that were never sanitized | No | Yes, with the SVG cleaner |
| Use icons in Elementor, WPBakery, ACF and others | Shortcode only | Native pickers |
Where to go next
Install the plugin
Install, activate and switch on what you need.
Upload SVG files
What happens to a file on its way into your media library.
Build your icon library
Add, rename and organize your own icons.
Use your icons
Show an icon with the Icon block, a shortcode or PHP.
Developers find every hook and function in the developer reference.