Images are specified using the <image> element, which includes all relevant attributes from the HTML <img> element, has most of the same attributes and supports all of the same formats (i.e., GIF, JPEG and PNG).
The SVG <image> element has the additional attributes x and y (both have default values of zero) to indicate the location of the left/top corner of the image in user space.
The SVG <image> element is defined as an XLink and thus has the attribute href. (Note that the XLink specification is currently under development and is subject to change. The SVG working group will track and rationalize with XLink as it evolves.)
The default values for attributes width and height are 1 user unit. An example:
<image x="200" y="200" width="100" height="100"
xml:link="simple" show="embed" actuate="auto" href="myimage.gif"/>