What are best practices for using SVG icons on Android?

Question

I am about to create my first Android native (so not browser based) app and looking for some good practices regarding icon creating/provisioning. Since it s

Answer 1

SVG icons are not a good option to use directly on a device if they need to be scaled to many different sizes, which is usually why you'd want to use vector format in the first place. A large icon will never scale down gracefully because, well, computer displays are made out of pixels. So the lines of the vector image may get aligned "in between pixels", creating a blurry border. Moreover, large icons need more details than small icons, which need very few details. A detailed icon does not look good in very small size, and a simple icon does not look good when scaled into very large size. I recently read an excellent article on this by a professional UI designer: About those vector icons.