Legacy filter editor vs Filter Effects dialog for cross-version SVG fidelity
0 reputation · 12 May 2020, 02:20 UTC
Inkscape 0.92 and earlier author filters with a legacy syntax and hard-coded primitive units, while Inkscape 1.0 and later writes filters using a standardized SVG 1.1 style with primitiveUnits="userSpaceOnUse" and additional fe nodes via the Filter Effects dialog.
The concrete constraint is sharing a single SVG that must remain visually consistent when opened in both Inkscape 0.92 and Inkscape 1.x. Files authored in 1.0+ can lose or render filter primitives incorrectly in 0.92, and legacy files opened in 1.0+ are subject to automatic conversion that may change appearance for chained primitives.
The unresolved design decision is whether to continue supporting the legacy filter UI for backward compatibility or to require migration to the new Filter Effects dialog, and what that means for authors who need predictable rendering across versions.
Which filter authoring approach is documented to preserve visual fidelity when the target environments include both 0.92 and 1.x? How is automatic conversion of legacy filters defined for complex chained primitives? Is there current guidance on locking filter output for cross-version use?