Native vector images generated from SVG
npm install react-native-vector-image
 
- Faster render – ~5x faster than react-native-svg.
- Smaller JS bundle = faster startup.
- Native support for dark mode.
- Web support for Expo.
``sh`
yarn add react-native-vector-image
Edit android/app/build.gradle to look like this (without the +):
`diff`
apply plugin: "com.android.application"
apply plugin: "org.jetbrains.kotlin.android"
apply plugin: "com.facebook.react"
+ apply from: "../../node_modules/react-native-vector-image/strip_svgs.gradle"
Open your project in Xcode, select the _Build Phases_ tab, and edit the Bundle React Native code and images script to look like this (without the +):
`diff
set -e
WITH_ENVIRONMENT="$REACT_NATIVE_PATH/scripts/xcode/with-environment.sh"
REACT_NATIVE_XCODE="$REACT_NATIVE_PATH/scripts/react-native-xcode.sh"
/bin/sh -c "$WITH_ENVIRONMENT $REACT_NATIVE_XCODE"
+ ../node_modules/react-native-vector-image/strip_svgs.sh
`

After installing this npm package, add the config plugin to the plugins array of your app.json or app.config.js:
`json`
{
"expo": {
"plugins": ["react-native-vector-image"]
}
}
Next, rebuild your app as described in the "Adding custom native code" guide.
#### Options
`json`
{
"expo": {
"plugins": [
[
"react-native-vector-image",
{
// These are default options, change if you want a different value:
"stripSvgs": false, // if true, svgs will be removed from bundle. expo-updates package crashes when svgs it expects in the bundle are not there
"metroConfigFile": "metro.config.js",
"resetCache": false,
"bundleWithExpo": true,
"entryFile": "index.ts"
}
]
]
}
}
Shout out to zamplyy for making the first version of the Expo plugin.
Since native vector assets cannot be served over http via metro dev server, they must be generated and compiled into the app bundle.
`js
import VectorImage from 'react-native-vector-image';
const App = () =>
`
To add dark mode to your image, create a new file with an .dark.svg extension, ie image.svg = light and image.dark.svg = dark.
This takes a while as metro has to go through all the code to find the imported SVGs.
_Note: for Expo just use the plugin and npx expo prebuild._
`sh`
yarn react-native-vector-image generate
| Argument | Description | Default |
| ---------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------- |
| --entry-file | Path to the app entrypoint file. | index.js |--config
| | Path to the metro config file. | metro.config.js |--reset-cache
| | Reset metro cache before extracting SVG assets. | false |--bundle-with-expo
| | Whether to bundle the app with Expo presets or using metro directly. | false |--ios-output
| | Path to an iOS .xcassets folder. | ios/AppName/Images.xcassets |--no-ios-output
| | Disable iOS output. | false |--android-output
| | Path to an Android res folder. | android/app/src/main/res |--no-android-output
| | Disable Android output. | false |--current-color
| | Replace any currentColor color references in SVGs. | #000000 |--current-color-dark
| | Replace any currentColor color references in .dark.svg SVGs. | #ffffff |
`sh`
yarn react-native run-iosor
yarn react-native run-android
If you need to use the underlying image source/drawable you can use the VectorImage.resolveAssetSource method, for example with Expo's native tabs:
`tsx
const iconSource = VectorImage.resolveAssetSource(require('./icon.svg'));
return (
);
`
Some optimizations applied by SVGO are not compatible with the SVG parser on Android. Try to re-export the SVG without optimizing it.
It means that the native vector asset does not exist or is out of sync with the SVG. Simply generate the files and recompile the app.
Make sure your image component is used (imported) somewhere in your code, otherwise the asset generator won't find it.
MIT License. © Joel Arvidsson 2021
svg2vd`: MIT © 2020 Shopify