The Book of Inkscape, 2nd Edition

16Clones and Symbols

The idea of a clone—a linked copy of an object that updates itself when the original changes—comes naturally from the vector way of thinking about graphics. In a sense, a clone is not a real object—rather, it is just a command: "Display a copy of the object here." The document stores that command, not a real object. An actual object instead of the command is created only in the memory of an SVG application such as Inkscape when it displays the document.

There are both artistic and technical reasons to use clones. Watching several objects change, live, when you edit only one is an exciting experience that suggests many creative possibilities. On the other hand, using clones instead of duplicates can make an SVG document smaller ...