Logo file formats explained: PNG, SVG, EPS & PDF
What each logo file actually is, which one a printer wants, and the 400% zoom test that tells you in five seconds whether yours is print-grade.
Every business owner has a folder called logo_final_v3_REAL.png. Then a printer asks for a vector file and the folder suddenly feels like a lie. Here is what each format actually is, in plain English — and which one to send when you order signage, uniforms or business cards, from the team that redraws the tricky ones every week at our Moorebank studio.
What each format actually is
- PNG — the screen file. Crisp on websites and social media, keeps a transparent background. But it is made of pixels, so the moment it goes bigger than the size it was made for, the edges blur. Fine for an email signature, wrong for a 3-metre fascia.
- JPG — the photo file. Great for photographs, wrong for logos: no transparency, and compression fuzz builds a halo of grey pixels around every edge. The screenshot trap — "I grabbed it off our website" — is almost always a JPG in disguise.
- SVG and EPS — the vector masters. Vector files store shapes and curves as maths instead of pixels, so they scale from a pen stamp to a building wrap with zero quality loss. This is what printers and embroiderers actually want. SVG lives on the web; EPS is the classic print-house master.
- PDF — the courier. A PDF is an envelope, not a format: it can carry vector artwork inside (ideal) or a flattened pixel image (useless at scale). A "vector PDF" from your original designer is the file we keep on file for every reprint.
The 400% zoom test
- Open the file and zoom to 400%. Edges still razor-sharp? You are holding a vector — print-grade at any size.
- Stairs and fuzz on the edges? It is a pixel image, so its print ceiling is roughly the size it was made at. Blow it up and every soft edge gets printed soft.
- Two-second rule before any quote: if the biggest file in your logo folder is measured in kilobytes, assume we will need to rebuild it — and ask your original designer for the vector masters while you are at it. Most will email them over in minutes.
Only got a PNG? That's fixable
- We redraw logos for free. Send whatever you have — a PNG, a JPG, a photo of a ute door — and we rebuild it as clean vector artwork at our Moorebank studio before anything prints. Most rebuilds take a day or two, not a week.
- Redraw beats auto-trace. Automated vectorising tools chews fine detail into lumpy blobs. A proper redraw keeps counters, corners and letter spacing true.
- You keep the masters. Once your logo is rebuilt, the vector files are yours to reuse everywhere — signage one month, embroidery the next, all from one clean master.
Which file for which job
- Signage, banners, vehicle and shopfront: vector PDF or EPS — the panel might be any size, so the artwork must scale with it. Our signage team builds print panels straight from vector.
- Embroidery and apparel: vector for the digitiser, plus a flat PNG for colour reference — thread behaves differently from ink, so we check both. See our uniforms and apparel service.
- Business cards, flyers and stationery: vector PDF with fonts flattened to curves.
- Web, socials and email: PNG exported at the size it will be shown — pixels are fine when the size never changes.
FAQs
Yes. Send what you have and we redraw it as clean vector artwork before printing — free on CRINO jobs. Most rebuilds take a day or two, and the vector master is yours to keep for every job after.
300dpi at the exact printed size — so a business card image and a banner image are very different files. If your artwork only works at small sizes, that is the queue to get it redrawn.
Yes — one clean setup and every reprint after it is a quick reorder, with no re-design fee. Bring the vector master or let us rebuild it once.
Practically, very little — both can carry the same vector artwork. EPS is the traditional print-house master, PDF is the everyday courier that opens anywhere. Either works; send whichever your designer hands you.
Deep-dive prep is in our print-ready file checklist, the quick audit is the brand & print readiness checklist, and everything from signage to stationery is under CRINO services.
Send us whatever you've got.
PNG, JPG or a photo of the ute door — we rebuild logos as clean vector artwork at our Moorebank studio, free on print jobs, and quote from the same files.