Vector Markup Language (VML) is an XML language used to produce vector graphics. VML was submitted as a proposed standard to the W3C in 1998 by Microsoft, Macromedia, and others, but was rejected as a web standard because Adobe, Sun, and others submitted a competing proposal known as PGML. The two standards were joined to create SVG.

Even though rejected as a standard by the W3C, and largely ignored by developers, Microsoft still implemented VML into Internet Explorer 5.0 and higher and in Microsoft Office 2000 and higher.

Google Maps currently uses VML for rendering vectors when running on Internet Explorer 5.5+.

Example

How this example would look in capable viewer

The following code displays an oval filled in blue:

The SVG equivalent for this code would be:

Curiously, the fillcolor attribute of VML becomes a CSS property in SVG, and the four attributes of the SVG ellipse tag become CSS properties in VML.

Software

VML is used by most Microsoft Office applications, such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Visio, etc., to create online files, while using the Save As HTML option (plain HTML or MHT, Microsoft HyperText Single File Format). Such files retain complete vector information, and can be reopened for editing using the Microsoft Applications, such as Microsoft Powerpoint. VML is natively supported by Microsoft Internet Explorer within inline HTML, compared to SVG that is natively supported by Firefox inline only in XHTML mode .

Several online utilities also use VML as the primary language of choice for storing vector information in HTML.The drawing above, drawn using an online vector drawing package, keeps the detail irrespective of the resolution used in the webpage. Such vector graphics are retained in HTML web format, and manipulated using text, as opposed to binary data like in JPEG, PNG, or GIF.