When you open an SVG file in Adobe Illustrator, you may notice that the picture is saved twice inside the file. This is because AI saves the picture once as real SVG, for SVG viewers to use, and once in its own binary format, which it uses when opening the file. If you export an SVG file from AI, edit it in Inkscape, and then open it again with AI, you may notice that your changes seem lost. This is due to the way AI saves the file.

Fortunately, there's a solution for this issue. Since version 10, Adobe Illustrator can import SVG directly, making the detour unnecessary and support for it has been removed from Inkscape.

In addition to this, Inkscape also has one incompatible feature called flowed text. When you edit flowed text in Inkscape, you need to convert it to normal text before saving the file as an SVG or plain SVG. This is because AI does not support flowed text and may not display it correctly.

To save files in Inkscape for use with Adobe Illustrator and vice versa, there are a few things you can do. Earlier versions of Inkscape (up to 0.46) supported export to the .ai format, but this feature has been removed since then. However, Inkscape can still export its documents as PDF.

Conversely, Inkscape opens Adobe's AI and PDF files with some limitations. For example, gradient meshes are approximated by lattices of small paths, and transparency modes do not work. Illustrator can import Inkscape SVG and export SVG, which Inkscape usually opens without problems. However, there is one issue to be aware of.

In addition to the compatibility issues between Inkscape and Adobe Illustrator, each program has its own unique features that set it apart from the other. For example, Inkscape has node editing advantages, such as the ability to scale objects proportionally using shift and control keys. Additionally, Inkscape can perform tasks that Illustrator cannot, such as converting flowed text to normal text.

On the other hand, Adobe Illustrator has its own set of features that make it more powerful than Inkspace. For example, Illustrator can export SVG with CSS animations, which is not possible in Inkscape. Ultimately, the choice between using Inkscape or Adobe Illustrator depends on your specific needs and preferences.

Saving inkscape svg