Definition of vector graphics

Vector graphics refers to the use of geometric formulas to represent images by software and hardware. This means that vector graphics are created with geometric primitives such as points, lines, curves, or polygons.

Also called: Vector graphics, object-oriented graphics, SVG.

Vector graphics contrast with the other method of representing graphic images, which uses bitmap or raster graphics, where the image is made up of an array of points (pixels).

Vector images are more flexible than bitmap images because they can be resized and stretched without losing quality. Even vector graphics animation is often simpler and takes up less space than bitmap graphics. Another advantage of vector graphics is that their representation usually requires less memory and less storage space.

Most sophisticated graphics systems (CADD and animation software) use vector graphics. Fonts are represented as vectors called object-oriented fonts or vector fonts.

Most output devices (printers, monitors, etc.) are based on raster images, this means that all vector graphics must be converted to a bitmap before output.

It should be noted that photographs cannot be stored vectorially, but there are image plotter programs that attempt to render bitmap images into vector graphics. The result is a cartoon-like image.

Meanwhile, those images that contain text (for example a scanned text), can be converted to vector graphics and thus make the text editable. These systems are called OCR.

Flash, fonts, 3D graphics, etc. They use vector graphics.

Vector graphics file formats

Some of the graphic formats that accept vectors are AI (from Illustrator), CDR (from Corel Draw), DXF (AutoCad Interchange Format), .FH9, .FH10, .FH11… (from FreeHand), IGES, PostScript , SVG, SWF (for Flash), WMF (Windows MetaFiles), etc.