# SVG file not opening in Chrome or image viewer

**URL:** <https://forum.graphviz.org/t/svg-file-not-opening-in-chrome-or-image-viewer/1049>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [February 18, 2022, 8:37am UTC](https://forum.graphviz.org/t/svg-file-not-opening-in-chrome-or-image-viewer/1049 "2022-02-18T08:37:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![learned\_fool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@learned\_fool](https://forum.graphviz.org/u/learned_fool)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 8:37am UTC](https://forum.graphviz.org/t/svg-file-not-opening-in-chrome-or-image-viewer/1049/1 "2022-02-18T08:37:04Z")

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Dear Graphviz Community,

I have been trying to convert a dot file into an .svg file for a graph with about 400 nodes. `dot` in itself is taking a really long time, so I referred to this [SO answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/13420913) and used the command  
`sfdp -x -Goverlap=scale -Tsvg go_parser.dot > data.svg`

However, I observed that I was not able to view the SVG created through this command. I would be extremely grateful if you could help me resolve this issue.  
Thanks in advance  
[go\_parser.dot](https://forum.graphviz.org/uploads/short-url/mXt3auKWyJnViSgttD2kbiVPajp.dot) (138.4 KB)

Please let me know if you need more details.

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**Author:** ![steveroush](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9adbd/32.png) [@steveroush](https://forum.graphviz.org/u/steveroush)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 7:39pm UTC](https://forum.graphviz.org/t/svg-file-not-opening-in-chrome-or-image-viewer/1049/2 "2022-02-18T19:39:21Z")

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gc ([https://graphviz.org/pdf/gc.1.pdf](https://graphviz.org/pdf/gc.1.pdf)) says  
**402 3249 automata (go\_parser.gv)**  
So, approximately 3249 edges, or 16 edges per node. That makes for a messy (edge-filled) graph.  
And indeed trying all the engines (dot, fdp, neato, twopi, and circo) with these args added to the command line `-Gnslimit=2 -Gnslimit1=2 -Gmaxiter=5000` - though not with optimal attribute values - gave pretty useless graphs. (Circo never finished)

Here are some more hints - [Dot command seems to never end - #6 by steveroush](https://forum.graphviz.org/t/dot-command-seems-to-never-end/958/6)

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**Author:** ![smattr](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/graphviz/user_avatar/forum.graphviz.org/smattr/32/85_2.png) [@smattr](https://forum.graphviz.org/u/smattr)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2022, 2:04am UTC](https://forum.graphviz.org/t/svg-file-not-opening-in-chrome-or-image-viewer/1049/3 "2022-02-19T02:04:05Z")

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There are [some Gitlab issues tagged with the “performance” label](https://gitlab.com/graphviz/graphviz/-/issues?sort=created_date&state=opened&label_name%5B%5D=performance) that I periodically revisit and profile to see if we can improve anything internally. If you create a Gitlab issue with this graph, it will be included in future analyses like this.

Having said that, there will always be graphs that are simply too large/interconnected for Graphviz to handle well.

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**Author:** ![scnorth](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/graphviz/user_avatar/forum.graphviz.org/scnorth/32/89_2.png) [@scnorth](https://forum.graphviz.org/u/scnorth)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2022, 4:03pm UTC](https://forum.graphviz.org/t/svg-file-not-opening-in-chrome-or-image-viewer/1049/4 "2022-02-19T16:03:34Z")

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Sure, and at least limit the output canvas size, e.g. -Gsize=“10,10” or something so you don’t make an enormous SVG canvas that won’t load.