Minify & Optimize SVG for Production (1‑click + best practices) in IconVectors

Production SVGs should be tiny, robust, and themable. In this guide you’ll learn the 1‑click Minified export in Axialis IconVectors and when to run SVGO on top for advanced cases. The page structure and SEO mirror your recent tutorials for consistency.

Why minify SVGs?

• Smaller files → faster page loads and better Core Web Vitals.
• Cleaner markup → easier to diff, review, and sprite.
• Safer defaults → remove metadata, comments, and extraneous attributes that don’t matter at runtime.

Step‑by‑step in IconVectors

1. Open, draw, or import your SVG icon.
   • Open existing SVG: File → Open… (Ctrl+O)
   • Create from scratch: New Icon (Ctrl+N)

   

2. Export a minified SVG — choose File → Export → Export Minified (Shift+Ctrl+M). This strips unnecessary whitespace/metadata and writes a compact, production‑ready file. You can confirm the result in the read‑only code viewer (F3).
3. Best‑practice checklist (what your minified SVG should keep)
   • Keep viewBox for proper scaling (e.g., viewBox="0 0 24 24").
   • Use currentColor for fills/strokes so the icon can be themed via CSS.
   • Prefer simple paths (boolean ops done in editor) and snap to whole‑pixel coordinates for crisp small sizes.

   <!-- Good: compact, themable, scalable -->
   <svg viewBox="0 0 24 24" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
     <path d="M4 12l4 4 12-12" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2"/>
   </svg>

4. When to still run SVGO

   IconVectors’ Minified export is usually enough. Run SVGO in a build step when you need stricter control (e.g., unified precision, ID prefixing, enforcing removeViewBox:false, removing dimensions for responsive sizing).

   Install (once per project):

   npm i -D svgo
   # or ad‑hoc:
   npx svgo --version

   Minimal svgo.config.js (safe defaults):

   module.exports = {
     multipass: true,
     plugins: [
       {
         name: 'preset-default',
         params: {
           overrides: {
             // Keep scaling behavior predictable
             removeViewBox: false,
             // Keep IDs stable unless you need prefixing:
             cleanupIDs: { minify: true }
           }
         }
       },
       // Optional: make SVGs responsive by dropping width/height
       'removeDimensions'
     ]
   };

   Run on a folder:

   # Optimize all SVGs in ./icons to ./dist/icons
   npx svgo -f icons -o dist/icons

   Before → After (typical):

   - <svg width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24">
   -   <path fill="#000000" d="M4 12 L8 16 L20 4" />
   -   <!-- metadata, comments, unused groups... -->
   - </svg>
   + <svg viewBox="0 0 24 24" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
   +   <path d="M4 12 8 16 20 4" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2"/>
   + </svg>

5. Validate quickly
   • Open the file with F3 to confirm viewBox, currentColor, and compact path data.
   • Use a sprite or inline in HTML to confirm theming; avoid <img src="…"> if you need CSS color inheritance.

Notes & troubleshooting

• Lost colors after SVGO? Ensure you’re not replacing currentColor inadvertently; keep fills/strokes intentional.
• Icon won’t recolor — confirm paths use fill="currentColor"/stroke="currentColor" and the SVG is inline/sprite (not an <img>).
• Scaling broke — set removeViewBox:false so the root retains its viewBox.