winget install --id=SickSartori.SvgPreview -e Shell extension that renders SVG thumbnails in Windows Explorer using the resvg engine, so files using clipPath, masks, filters, embedded images and compressed .svgz render accurately. Modernized revival of the SVG Explorer Extension by Tibold Kandrai.
SVG thumbnails in Windows Explorer, rendered with resvg for accurate, browser-grade results.
Based on SVG Explorer Extension (SVG See) by Tibold Kandrai - all credit for the original extension goes to him and its contributors. This fork replaces the QtSvg rendering engine, which is the part that could not be fixed upstream.
QtSvg, the engine used by SVG See, only implements the SVG Tiny profile: clipPath, masks and filters are ignored (verified up to Qt 6.11). Any SVG using them - including most exports from Illustrator, Affinity or Inkscape - renders wrong or not at all. That is the root cause of upstream issues #118, #119, #123 and #125.
This fork renders through resvg instead, statically linked into a single ~3 MB DLL (no Qt runtime to ship):
| QtSvg (SVG See) | resvg (SVG Preview) | |
|---|---|---|
| clipPath + `` + embedded image |  |  |
The same clip path that QtSvg ignores (left, the image fills the whole square) is applied correctly by resvg (right). Masks, filters, `` forward references, embedded raster images and gzipped .svgz all work too.
From Releases download and run appropriate binary for your system. There are no further actions required after installations.
> Make sure you download the right architecture (the 32 bit installer will run on a 64 bit system, but the extension will not function).
Installing SVG Preview automatically removes previous versions, including the original SVG See if present.
Release installers are Authenticode-signed. Free code signing is provided by SignPath.io, with a certificate issued by the SignPath Foundation. See deployment/SIGNING.md for details.
> Thumbnails do no show after installation
This may happen if the thumbnail's are disabled in the system. To verify that it is indeed turned on:
File Explorer Options and open itView tab make sure that the Always show icons, never thumbnails is uncheckedThis may happen if the system already contains cached thumbnails for the SVGs you are trying to view. This can be fixed by clearing the system's thumbnail cache.
Thumbnails at the end of the list. You may unselect the rest or leave the default selection.OKKill explorer.exe and delete the icon cache manually
(ref):
TASKKILL /IM explorer* /F
DEL "%localappdata%\IconCache.db" /A
explorer.exe
If neither of the above helped please open an issue on our github page.
> An error is thrown during the installation.
Please open an issue on our github page, and include a screen shot and the exact error message.
Development installers are created from every commit by GitHub Actions: open a green build and download the svg_preview_x64 artifact. Every build also renders all the test SVGs through the freshly built DLL and uploads the resulting thumbnails, so rendering regressions are visible at a glance.
winget installation:
winget install Microsoft.VisualStudio.2022.BuildTools
winget install Rustlang.Rustup
winget install JRSoftware.InnoSetup
winget install Git.Git
Chocolatey installation:
choco install visualstudio2022buildtools
choco install visualstudio2022-workload-vctools
choco install rustup.install innosetup git
With either package manager, make sure the Visual Studio install includes the Desktop development with C++ workload and the C++ CMake tools component (add them from the Visual Studio Installer if needed).
Quick start after developer env is set:
git clone https://github.com/SickSartori/svg-preview.git
cd svg-preview
pwsh .\deployment\Build.ps1 -Verbose -Architecture x64
The build script clones and compiles resvg at a pinned release, builds the DLL with CMake and packages the installer.
To validate thumbnails without registering the extension, the build also produces
ThumbnailTestHarness.exe, which drives the DLL exactly like Explorer does:
ThumbnailTestHarness.exe SvgPreview.dll input.svg output.png 256
Tibold Kandrai started the project in 2012, first on Google Code, Codeplex. Life happened and Tibold didn't have time to work on it any more, though the extension continued to work more than it didn't so people kept using it.
In 2017 Codeplex shut down and turned into a read-only warehouse. Matt Wilkie imported the project to GitHub and continued to maintain the project as best as a python-not-c++ guy could. The extension continued to work more than not, though the problems started to add up as Windows continued to evolve and change underfoot.
In late 2019 a lucky confluence of stubborn brute force learning on Matt's part and newly active and knowledgeable contributors (Daniel, Simon, Voodoo) revived the feared soon-to-be-comatose project. Bugs were fixed and automatic binary builds came into being. Life rebounded. Right on the heels of this, Tibold regained attention time for side-projects and again assumed the project owner mantle.
On 1st of January, 2020 version v1.0.0 was released including all bug fixes and up to date dependencies. Let's see where the rest of the year takes us. :-)
In 2026 this fork, SVG Preview, replaced the QtSvg engine with resvg after tracking down why SVGs with clip paths had been rendering wrong for years. Everything else - the shell extension design, the installer, the project itself - stands on the shoulders of Tibold's work and that of all the contributors above.
Thank you's for helping make this a better project (emoji key):
resvg - SVG rendering engine
Qt - dev platform and libraries
Jeremy@urk - initial example
Tibold Kandrai - Project creator and primary developer
This project follows the all-contributors specification. Contributions of all kinds welcome (code, docs, user support, ...).
Daniel Beardsmore
Simon Sobisch
Tibold Kandrai
Matt Wilkie