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Participant
August 18, 2019
Question

Illustrator 2018 freezing while opening SVG file

  • August 18, 2019
  • 3 replies
  • 1327 views

When tried to open a relatively large svg file (about 12 MB), Illustrator just freezes. Using Adobe Illustrator CC 2018 on a trial. No progress indicator, no informative messages. Hello, this is 2019. LoL. It is mind boggling how Illustrator can be this pathetic.

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3 replies

John Mensinger
Community Expert
Community Expert
August 19, 2019

There are a lot of variables in SVG. Illustrator has Open and Write capabilities, but no application can open every SVG.

From an Illustrator standpoint, SVG is a lot like PDF; it does just fine reopening an SVG it originally wrote. But like PDF, SVG is primarily a deployment format, with many possible sources and recipes, so SVG data that did not originate in Illustrator can easily be hit-and-miss. Just the fact that your problem file measures 12MB makes it highly suspect. That's a lot of SVG; how long did you wait for Illustrator to parse it before you concluded it was "frozen"?

Srishti Bali
Legend
August 19, 2019

Hi Madhu,

Sorry to hear that your experience with Illustrator was not good. As mentioned above, there could be multiple reasons behind this. I would request if you can share a few more details like:

  • OS (Exact version of Windows/MAC)
  • Where the SVG file is saved (Network Drive/ System HDD/ Shared Folder on System /External HDD)?
  • Is the issue related to a specific file? If yes, could you please share the file with us? You can upload it to the creative cloud and share the download link.

In case you want to share some feedback or suggestions related to informative messages, you can do that here: Adobe Illustrator Feedback

This is the best way of communicating with the Engineering and Product Management teams regarding issues and suggestions so they can be implemented in future releases.

Regards,

Srishti

Joely10623436
Community Expert
Community Expert
August 19, 2019

If you assume that this is an Illustrator Problem – did you try/use an alternative Vector Graphic Tool?
and did itwork?

Where/how was the SVG created/exported?

Did you try to save as EPS first and then open in AI?

Did you open the svg in Adobe XD as a test?

Hello, this is 2019 – it's not always simple or black and white. LoL.