diff --git a/src/config.cpp b/src/config.cpp
index 69fc670..a9f96ec 100644
--- a/src/config.cpp
+++ b/src/config.cpp
@@ -38,8 +38,8 @@ bool parseOptions(int argc, char **argv) {
         opts.seed         = arg_strn("s", "seed", "<uint>", 0, 1, "set random generator seed"),
         opts.timeseed     = arg_litn(NULL, "timeseed", 0, 1, "set seed from system time"),
         opts.resolution   = arg_dbln("r", "resolution", "<float>", 0, 1, "level of map detail"),
-        opts.outfile      = arg_filen("o", "output", "filename", 0, 1, "output file"),
-        opts.output       = arg_filen(NULL, NULL, "<file>", 0, 1, "output file"),
+        opts.outfile      = arg_filen("o", "output", "filename", 0, 1, "output file (may end in .png or .svg)"),
+        opts.output       = arg_filen(NULL, NULL, "<file>", 0, 1, "output file (may end in .png or .svg)"),
         opts.eroamount    = arg_dbln("e", "erosion-amount", "<float>", 0, 1, "erosion amount"),
         opts.erosteps     = arg_intn(NULL, "erosion-steps", "<int>", 0, 1, "number of erosion iterations"),
         opts.ncities      = arg_intn("c", "cities", "<int>", 0, 1, "number of generated cities"),
@@ -386,4 +386,4 @@ bool _setVerbosity(arg_lit *verbose) {
 }
 
 }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/src/main.cpp b/src/main.cpp
index 37edde3..1c22784 100644
--- a/src/main.cpp
+++ b/src/main.cpp
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ void outputMap(gen::MapGenerator &map) {
     std::string outfile = gen::config::outfile;
     std::string outfileExt = gen::config::outfileExt;
     #ifdef PYTHON_RENDERING_SUPPORTED
-        if (outfileExt != std::string(".png")) {
+        if (outfileExt != std::string(".png") && outfileExt != std::string(".svg")) {
             outfile += ".png";
         }
 
diff --git a/src/render/rendermap.py b/src/render/rendermap.py
index 5715d19..3cc541f 100644
--- a/src/render/rendermap.py
+++ b/src/render/rendermap.py
@@ -115,7 +115,13 @@ def draw_map(jsonstring, output_filename):
 
     imgwidth = data["image_width"]
     imgheight = data["image_height"]
-    surface = cairo.ImageSurface(cairo.FORMAT_ARGB32, imgwidth, imgheight)
+
+    surface = None
+    if (output_filename.endswith(".svg")):
+        surface = cairo.SVGSurface(output_filename, imgwidth, imgheight)
+    else:
+        surface = cairo.ImageSurface(cairo.FORMAT_ARGB32, imgwidth, imgheight)
+
     ctx = cairo.Context(surface)
 
     update_draw_scale(data["draw_scale"])
@@ -153,5 +159,8 @@ def draw_map(jsonstring, output_filename):
     draw_cities(data["city"], ctx, imgwidth, imgheight)
     draw_towns(data["town"], ctx, imgwidth, imgheight)
     draw_labels(data["label"], ctx, imgwidth, imgheight);
-
-    surface.write_to_png(output_filename)
+    
+    if isinstance(surface, cairo.SVGSurface): 
+        surface.finish()
+    else:
+        surface.write_to_png(output_filename)