What file format should my logo be?

Short answer: SVG or PNG. If you have the SVG of your logo, upload that one: it is the better of the two, with no quality ceiling. Otherwise, a PNG with a transparent background, about 4000 px at 300 dpi.

The better choice: SVG

An SVG is a vector file: the logo is described by geometric shapes rather than by pixels — see What is a vector logo and why do I need one. It therefore has no size limit at all, and that changes everything:

Nothing to check. No pixel dimensions, no resolution: the logo sheet simply displays “Vector file (SVG): optimal print quality at any size”.
No export to do. You upload your graphic designer's file exactly as it is. We produce the display PNG from it, then re-render it at the exact size of each marking when it is manufactured.
One single file for every marking, from the heart placement to a large back print, without ever going back to your graphic designer.

Check the preview after uploading

The SVG is converted to PNG, and it is that PNG we print. A font that was not embedded in the file, an effect or a very thin line may have been lost in the conversion. The logo sheet reminds you: “Check the SVG-to-PNG conversion shown above carefully, because that is exactly what we will print.” If any detail is wrong, correct the SVG and upload it again.

Watch out for one common case: an SVG may contain nothing but a bitmap image, and is then no better than that image. The system tells you when that happens — see My file is an SVG or a PDF but you say it is not vector.

The other accepted format: PNG

Three requirements, and all three have to be met:

PNG — the other format the site accepts on upload.
Transparent background — transparency around the artwork, not a white rectangle.
4000 px on the longest side, at 300 dpi — the pixel dimensions manufacturing needs. Those 4000 px are the whole image, transparent margins included: it is the size your file already reports, nothing to work out.

Format and transparency decide how the logo displays; the pixel dimensions decide whether it can be printed. So a logo can look perfect on your shop and still be unusable for manufacturing — see Is my logo good enough for printing.

A logo can only contain solid colors. Gradients are fine between solid colors, but no gradient to transparent: transparency only exists on a screen, it is impossible on a physical marking. This rule applies to SVG just as much as to PNG.

Whatever the format, the file must not exceed 6 MB. A fully vector logo is normally far lighter than that — a few tens of kilobytes.

All you have is an AI, an EPS or a PDF?

That is good news, actually: those are vector formats too, the best possible source for a logo. They simply cannot be uploaded as they are, because the site only accepts SVG and PNG.

Two ways round it:

Ask your graphic designer for an SVG. It is a simple re-export from the file they already have, and it leaves you self-sufficient afterwards.
Email us the file at logo@dagoba.app and we will take care of it. Here is how: How do I send you my logo if I have no print file.

Why not a JPEG?

This is the most common case, and there are two reasons — neither of which can be repaired afterwards.

1. JPEG does not handle transparency. The format simply has no transparency channel: there is always a background, usually white. A JPEG logo therefore always arrives with its background rectangle, which would print onto the textile exactly as it is — see My logo has a white background, what do I do.

2. JPEG damages edges. It was designed for photos: it compresses by averaging pixels in blocks. Invisible on a landscape, this is catastrophic on a logo, which is made of nothing but sharp edges and flat areas of color. The result: a halo of dirty pixels around letters and edges, and a single flat color that turns into hundreds of slightly different shades. Zoom in hard on your file and you will watch them appear.

Marking needs exactly the opposite: solid colors and clean edges.

Converting a JPEG to PNG repairs nothing. The damage is already written into the pixels: the conversion copies them across identically, and it does not recreate the transparency the JPEG never had. What you get is a PNG with the contents of a JPEG. You have to start again from the source — the vector file — or have the logo vectorized, see How do I get a print-quality logo.

What about the other formats?

Format	What you need to know
GIF	256 colors maximum, and an “all or nothing” transparency that leaves edges stair-stepped.
WEBP, HEIC	Recent photo and web formats, not accepted on upload.
BMP, TIFF	Not accepted on upload.

For all of them, converting to PNG only changes the wrapper: the pixel dimensions and the transparency remain those of the original file. If that file is a photo or a screenshot, the PNG you get out of it will not be printable either.