[klysm]

Canvas is just a pixel buffer. Even with sufficient caching SVG would be slower because there’s more work to do with parsing, etc.

[llm_nerd]

Canvas is a pixel buffer...and a set of drawing rudiments to imperatively actually make that pixel buffer useful. If you were actually just using canvas as a pixel buffer it would be catastrophically slow.

SVG is a pixel buffer and a set of drawing rudiments to imperatively or declaratively actually make that pixel buffer useful.

The distinction you are drawing between these is sophistry.

[postalrat]

SVG is a pixel buffer the same way html is a pixel buffer. It can have multiple types of animations, hover states, etc.

[klysm]

No the distinction is important and directly related to performance. Supporting the canvas API requires fewer CPU instructions to get to pixels on the screen. The browser has to do a lot more work to turn SVG into pixels