diff --git a/docs/changelog.md b/docs/changelog.md
index 778f3f51..cf149328 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.md
+++ b/docs/changelog.md
@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@ Requires libvips v8.9.1
   [#2188](https://github.com/lovell/sharp/pull/2188)
   [@dimadeveatii](https://github.com/dimadeveatii)
 
+* Allow SVG input with large inline images to be parsed.
+  [#2195](https://github.com/lovell/sharp/issues/2195)
+
 ### v0.25.2 - 20th March 2020
 
 * Provide prebuilt binaries for Linux ARM64v8.
diff --git a/src/common.cc b/src/common.cc
index 6c9c8a82..e3f7f6d6 100644
--- a/src/common.cc
+++ b/src/common.cc
@@ -279,6 +279,9 @@ namespace sharp {
             vips::VOption *option = VImage::option()
               ->set("access", descriptor->access)
               ->set("fail", descriptor->failOnError);
+            if (imageType == ImageType::SVG) {
+              option->set("unlimited", TRUE);
+            }
             if (imageType == ImageType::SVG || imageType == ImageType::PDF) {
               option->set("dpi", descriptor->density);
             }
@@ -325,6 +328,9 @@ namespace sharp {
             vips::VOption *option = VImage::option()
               ->set("access", descriptor->access)
               ->set("fail", descriptor->failOnError);
+            if (imageType == ImageType::SVG) {
+              option->set("unlimited", TRUE);
+            }
             if (imageType == ImageType::SVG || imageType == ImageType::PDF) {
               option->set("dpi", descriptor->density);
             }