The SVG <image> element allows for raster images to be rendered within an SVG object.

In this basic example, a .jpg image referenced by an href attribute will be rendered inside an SVG object:

<?xml version="1.0" standalone="no"?>
<!DOCTYPE svg PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD SVG 1.1//EN"
  "http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/1.1/DTD/svg11.dtd">
<svg width="5cm" height="4cm" version="1.1"
     xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">
  <image href="firefox.jpg" x="0" y="0" height="50px" width="50px"/>
</svg>

There are some important things to take note of (referenced from the W3 specs):

• If you do not set the x or y attributes, they will be set to 0.
• If you do not set the height or width attributes, they will be set to 0.
• Having a height or width attribute of 0 will disable rendering of the image.