Reduce the size of Inkscape documents from MBs to KBs
Hi everyone! In this video, I'll show you how to solve a common issue in Inkscape where your SVG files become unexpectedly large, and I'll demonstrate a quick, built-in feature to fix it.
I ran into a problem where a file I was reusing for my YouTube videos had grown to over 11 MB, even though it contained only simple vector shapes.
The cause of this bloating is often hidden data from previously embedded raster images. Even after you delete images from your canvas, Inkscape can sometimes keep the image data (encoded in base64) stored within the SVG file itself.
The solution is to use the "Clean Up Document" feature under the "File" tab
⭐️ Timestamps ⭐️
(00:00) Introduction
(00:27) Proving the issue by creating a new document
(00:57) Inspecting the SVG file's code in a text editor
(01:06) Finding the hidden embedded image data (base64)
(01:58) The Solution: Using "Clean Up Document"
(02:03) Checking the final, reduced file size