Why BIMI Rejects Your SVG Logo — SVG Tiny 1.2 Requirements Explained

BIMI's logo displays in email clients — but the same SVG file that renders perfectly in a browser may fail BIMI validation entirely, because BIMI doesn't accept standard SVG files and instead requires a specific, restricted SVG profile called SVG Tiny 1.2

The previous articles on this site covered BIMI setup, email deliverability, VMC/CMC certificates, and why a correctly configured logo might still not show. This article addresses BIMI's SVG format requirements — specifically why preparing the logo file is often the most technically demanding part of a BIMI implementation, and what specifically the SVG Tiny 1.2 specification requires and prohibits.

Why BIMI uses SVG Tiny 1.2, not regular SVG

BIMI's specification requires SVG Tiny 1.2 — a subset of the full SVG standard, originally designed for resource-constrained devices (early mobile phones). This is not "just SVG" — it's a specific, restricted profile with a narrower feature set than what designers and web developers usually work with.

Why not standard SVG? The BIMI working group chose SVG Tiny 1.2 for consistency and security:

• Consistency: SVG Tiny 1.2 has a well-defined, stable specification — any BIMI-compliant email client implementing the spec knows exactly which features to support
• Security: full SVG supports JavaScript, external resource loading, CSS animations, and complex filters — all potential attack vectors when rendering logos in email. SVG Tiny 1.2 strips most of these capabilities
• Predictability: a restricted format means the logo renders consistently across all BIMI-implementing clients

What SVG Tiny 1.2 prohibits that regular SVG allows

Most professional SVG files produced by design tools (Adobe Illustrator, Figma, Sketch) will fail BIMI validation because they use features not permitted in SVG Tiny 1.2:

External references: SVG Tiny 1.2 prohibits referencing external files — no xlink:href pointing to external URLs, no embedded font declarations loading from Google Fonts or similar, no referenced CSS files. Everything must be self-contained within the SVG file.

CSS styles: standard SVG frequently uses <style> blocks with CSS to apply colors, fonts, and other properties. SVG Tiny 1.2 requires properties to be applied as presentation attributes directly on elements (e.g., fill="#FF0000" on the <path> element itself), not via CSS class selectors.

Gradients (in many implementations): while SVG Tiny 1.2 does support linearGradient and radialGradient, many BIMI validators are stricter than the spec and reject gradients entirely, or allow only specific gradient types. For reliable cross-client compatibility, flat colors are recommended.

Filters and effects: drop shadows, blur filters, feComposite and other filter primitives — not supported in SVG Tiny 1.2.

Text elements (often): while SVG Tiny 1.2 technically allows <text> elements, BIMI implementations often reject them because font rendering is device-dependent and logos with text may look different across clients. Best practice: convert text to paths (Object > Expand in Illustrator, Flatten in Figma) so the text is rendered as vector shapes rather than relying on font rendering.

Raster images: <image> elements embedding PNG or JPEG data — not allowed; logos must be pure vector paths.

The required SVG structure for BIMI compliance

A minimal, BIMI-compliant SVG file has specific requirements:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<svg version="1.2" baseProfile="tiny"
     xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
     viewBox="0 0 100 100">
  <!-- Logo paths here, using presentation attributes -->
  <path fill="#FF0000" d="M10,10 L90,10 L50,90 Z"/>
</svg>

Key requirements:

• version="1.2" and baseProfile="tiny" must be present
• viewBox must be specified (the logo must be scalable)
• The logo should be roughly square (most BIMI clients render in a circular or square crop)
• No width and height attributes with absolute values — use viewBox only, to allow scaling
• The SVG namespace declaration xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" must be present

The circular crop issue: designing within the safe zone

Most email clients that display BIMI logos render them in a circle — cropping the square SVG into a circular display. This means any important content near the corners of the SVG will be clipped.

Design recommendation: keep all logo elements within a "safe zone" — roughly an inscribed circle within the SVG's square viewBox. If your viewBox is 0 0 100 100, keep all logo content within a circle of radius 45 centered at (50, 50), leaving at least 5 units of margin from the edges.

Logos that are already circular (a circle with the company symbol) work naturally. Logos that are horizontal rectangles (a wide wordmark) are particularly challenging — scaling to fit in a circle either makes the text very small or requires creating a "BIMI version" of the logo that's different from the standard version.

Validating BIMI SVG files

Multiple validators exist for testing BIMI SVG compliance before deploying:

• BIMI Group's official validator (bimigroup.org) — validates both SVG format and DNS record configuration
• Entrust's BIMI inspector — commercial validator from one of the VMC issuers
• SVG Tiny 1.2 validators — general SVG profile validators that can check format compliance independent of BIMI-specific DNS requirements

Common validator errors:

• "Unsupported element: <style>" — move CSS to presentation attributes
• "External reference" — remove href pointing to external URLs
• "Missing baseProfile attribute" — add baseProfile="tiny" to the root <svg> element
• "Version attribute required" — add version="1.2"

How to use the BIMI Lookup on sadiqbd.com

1. Check DNS record first — verify the BIMI DNS TXT record exists and has the correct format before troubleshooting SVG issues
2. If DNS is correct but logo doesn't display: validate the SVG file itself — the most common issue is a non-compliant SVG file that passes visual inspection in a browser but fails BIMI validation
3. Verify VMC/CMC if required: Google and Yahoo require a Verified Mark Certificate for BIMI logos to display; Apple Mail supports BIMI without VMC; knowing which clients you're targeting determines whether the VMC step is mandatory for your implementation

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I just rename a regular SVG file as "BIMI-compliant" or convert it online? Several conversion tools exist (including some in BIMI-focused toolkits) that attempt to strip non-compliant elements from standard SVG files and produce SVG Tiny 1.2 output. Results vary — automated converters often handle simple logos well but may produce incorrect results for complex logos with many layers, gradients, or custom fonts. The most reliable approach is exporting directly to SVG Tiny 1.2 from your design tool (some versions of Illustrator support this export option), or manually cleaning a simplified version of the logo. Validate the output with an official validator regardless of how it was produced.

Is the BIMI Lookup free? Yes — completely free, no sign-up required.

Try the BIMI Lookup free at sadiqbd.com — check your domain's BIMI record configuration and logo URL instantly.