diff --git a/imageio/imageio-batik/src/main/java/com/twelvemonkeys/imageio/plugins/svg/SVGImageReader.java b/imageio/imageio-batik/src/main/java/com/twelvemonkeys/imageio/plugins/svg/SVGImageReader.java
index 90ddd370..3a1172d7 100755
--- a/imageio/imageio-batik/src/main/java/com/twelvemonkeys/imageio/plugins/svg/SVGImageReader.java
+++ b/imageio/imageio-batik/src/main/java/com/twelvemonkeys/imageio/plugins/svg/SVGImageReader.java
@@ -74,18 +74,19 @@ import java.util.Map;
  * @see <A href="http://www.mail-archive.com/batik-dev@xml.apache.org/msg00992.html">batik-dev</A>
  */
 public class SVGImageReader extends ImageReaderBase {
-    private Rasterizer rasterizer = null;
+    private Rasterizer rasterizer;
 
     /**
      * Creates an {@code SVGImageReader}.
      *
      * @param pProvider the provider
      */
-    public SVGImageReader(ImageReaderSpi pProvider) {
+    public SVGImageReader(final ImageReaderSpi pProvider) {
         super(pProvider);
     }
 
     protected void resetMembers() {
+        rasterizer = new Rasterizer();
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -100,7 +101,6 @@ public class SVGImageReader extends ImageReaderBase {
 
         if (imageInput != null) {
             TranscoderInput input = new TranscoderInput(IIOUtil.createStreamAdapter(imageInput));
-            rasterizer = new Rasterizer();
             rasterizer.setInput(input);
         }
     }
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ public class SVGImageReader extends ImageReaderBase {
         try {
             processImageStarted(pIndex);
 
-            rasterizer.mTranscoderInput.setURI(baseURI);
+            rasterizer.transcoderInput.setURI(baseURI);
             BufferedImage image = rasterizer.getImage();
 
             Graphics2D g = destination.createGraphics();
@@ -253,31 +253,29 @@ public class SVGImageReader extends ImageReaderBase {
      */
     private class Rasterizer extends SVGAbstractTranscoder /*ImageTranscoder*/ {
 
-        BufferedImage mImage = null;
-        private TranscoderInput mTranscoderInput;
-        private float mDefaultWidth;
-        private float mDefaultHeight;
-        private boolean mInit = false;
-        private SVGOMDocument mDocument;
-        private String mURI;
-        private GraphicsNode mGVTRoot;
-        private TranscoderException mException;
-        private BridgeContext mContext;
+        BufferedImage image = null;
+        private TranscoderInput transcoderInput;
+        private float defaultWidth;
+        private float defaultHeight;
+        private boolean initialized = false;
+        private SVGOMDocument document;
+        private String uri;
+        private GraphicsNode gvtRoot;
+        private TranscoderException exception;
+        private BridgeContext context;
 
-        public BufferedImage createImage(int w, int h) {
-            return ImageUtil.createTransparent(w, h);//, BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_ARGB);
+        public BufferedImage createImage(final int width, final int height) {
+            return ImageUtil.createTransparent(width, height);//, BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_ARGB);
         }
 
         //  This is cheating... We don't fully transcode after all
-        protected void transcode(Document document, String uri, TranscoderOutput output) throws TranscoderException {
+        protected void transcode(Document document, final String uri, final TranscoderOutput output) throws TranscoderException {
             // Sets up root, curTxf & curAoi
             // ----
-            if ((document != null) &&
-                    !(document.getImplementation() instanceof SVGDOMImplementation)) {
-                DOMImplementation impl;
-                impl = (DOMImplementation) hints.get(KEY_DOM_IMPLEMENTATION);
-                // impl = ExtensibleSVGDOMImplementation.getDOMImplementation();
+            if ((document != null) && !(document.getImplementation() instanceof SVGDOMImplementation)) {
+                DOMImplementation impl = (DOMImplementation) hints.get(KEY_DOM_IMPLEMENTATION);
                 document = DOMUtilities.deepCloneDocument(document, impl);
+
                 if (uri != null) {
                     try {
                         URL url = new URL(uri);
@@ -290,7 +288,6 @@ public class SVGImageReader extends ImageReaderBase {
 
             ctx = createBridgeContext();
             SVGOMDocument svgDoc = (SVGOMDocument) document;
-            //SVGSVGElement root = svgDoc.getRootElement();
 
             // build the GVT tree
             builder = new GVTBuilder();
@@ -298,7 +295,7 @@ public class SVGImageReader extends ImageReaderBase {
             boolean isDynamic =
                     (hints.containsKey(KEY_EXECUTE_ONLOAD) &&
                             (Boolean) hints.get(KEY_EXECUTE_ONLOAD) &&
-                    BaseScriptingEnvironment.isDynamicDocument(ctx, svgDoc));
+                            BaseScriptingEnvironment.isDynamicDocument(ctx, svgDoc));
 
             if (isDynamic) {
                 ctx.setDynamicState(BridgeContext.DYNAMIC);
@@ -312,8 +309,7 @@ public class SVGImageReader extends ImageReaderBase {
             catch (BridgeException ex) {
                 // Note: This might fail, but we STILL have the dimensions we need
                 // However, we need to reparse later...
-                //throw new TranscoderException(ex);
-                mException = new TranscoderException(ex);
+                exception = new TranscoderException(ex);
             }
 
             // ----
@@ -321,24 +317,23 @@ public class SVGImageReader extends ImageReaderBase {
             // get the 'width' and 'height' attributes of the SVG document
             Dimension2D docSize = ctx.getDocumentSize();
             if (docSize != null)  {
-                mDefaultWidth = (float) docSize.getWidth();
-                mDefaultHeight = (float) docSize.getHeight();
+                defaultWidth = (float) docSize.getWidth();
+                defaultHeight = (float) docSize.getHeight();
             }
             else {
-                mDefaultWidth = 200;
-                mDefaultHeight = 200;
+                defaultWidth = 200;
+                defaultHeight = 200;
             }
 
             // Hack to work around exception above
             if (root != null) {
-                mGVTRoot = root;
+                gvtRoot = root;
             }
-            mDocument = svgDoc;
-            mURI = uri;
+            this.document = svgDoc;
+            this.uri = uri;
 
-            //ctx.dispose();
             // Hack to avoid the transcode method wacking my context...
-            mContext = ctx;
+            context = ctx;
             ctx = null;
         }
 
@@ -353,24 +348,24 @@ public class SVGImageReader extends ImageReaderBase {
 
 
             // Hacky workaround below...
-            if (mGVTRoot == null) {
+            if (gvtRoot == null) {
                 // Try to reparse, if we had no URI last time...
-                if (mURI != mTranscoderInput.getURI()) {
+                if (uri != transcoderInput.getURI()) {
                     try {
-                        mContext.dispose();
-                        mDocument.setURLObject(new URL(mTranscoderInput.getURI()));
-                        transcode(mDocument, mTranscoderInput.getURI(), null);
+                        context.dispose();
+                        document.setURLObject(new URL(transcoderInput.getURI()));
+                        transcode(document, transcoderInput.getURI(), null);
                     }
                     catch (MalformedURLException ignore) {
                         // Ignored
                     }
                 }
 
-                if (mGVTRoot == null) {
-                    throw mException;
+                if (gvtRoot == null) {
+                    throw exception;
                 }
             }
-            ctx = mContext;
+            ctx = context;
             // /Hacky
             if (abortRequested()) {
                 processReadAborted();
@@ -378,13 +373,13 @@ public class SVGImageReader extends ImageReaderBase {
             }
             processImageProgress(20f);
 
-            // -- --
-            SVGSVGElement root = mDocument.getRootElement();
+            // ----
+            SVGSVGElement root = document.getRootElement();
             // ----
 
 
             // ----
-            setImageSize(mDefaultWidth, mDefaultHeight);
+            setImageSize(defaultWidth, defaultHeight);
 
             if (abortRequested()) {
                 processReadAborted();
@@ -394,7 +389,7 @@ public class SVGImageReader extends ImageReaderBase {
 
             // compute the preserveAspectRatio matrix
             AffineTransform Px;
-            String ref = new ParsedURL(mURI).getRef();
+            String ref = new ParsedURL(uri).getRef();
 
             try {
                 Px = ViewBox.getViewTransform(ref, root, width, height);
@@ -404,12 +399,12 @@ public class SVGImageReader extends ImageReaderBase {
                 throw new TranscoderException(ex);
             }
 
-            if (Px.isIdentity() && (width != mDefaultWidth || height != mDefaultHeight)) {
+            if (Px.isIdentity() && (width != defaultWidth || height != defaultHeight)) {
                 // The document has no viewBox, we need to resize it by hand.
                 // we want to keep the document size ratio
                 float xscale, yscale;
-                xscale = width / mDefaultWidth;
-                yscale = height / mDefaultHeight;
+                xscale = width / defaultWidth;
+                yscale = height / defaultHeight;
                 float scale = Math.min(xscale, yscale);
                 Px = AffineTransform.getScaleInstance(scale, scale);
             }
@@ -440,7 +435,7 @@ public class SVGImageReader extends ImageReaderBase {
             }
             processImageProgress(50f);
 
-            CanvasGraphicsNode cgn = getCanvasGraphicsNode(mGVTRoot);
+            CanvasGraphicsNode cgn = getCanvasGraphicsNode(gvtRoot);
             if (cgn != null) {
                 cgn.setViewingTransform(Px);
                 curTxf = new AffineTransform();
@@ -462,7 +457,7 @@ public class SVGImageReader extends ImageReaderBase {
                 throw new TranscoderException(ex);
             }
 
-            this.root = mGVTRoot;
+            this.root = gvtRoot;
             // ----
 
             // NOTE: The code below is copied and pasted from the Batik
@@ -510,6 +505,7 @@ public class SVGImageReader extends ImageReaderBase {
                         g2d.setPaint(bgcolor);
                         g2d.fillRect(0, 0, w, h);
                     }
+
                     if (rend != null) { // might be null if the svg document is empty
                         g2d.drawRenderedImage(rend, new AffineTransform());
                     }
@@ -534,43 +530,44 @@ public class SVGImageReader extends ImageReaderBase {
                 throw exception;
             }
             finally {
-                if (mContext != null) {
-                    mContext.dispose();
+                if (context != null) {
+                    context.dispose();
                 }
             }
         }
 
         private synchronized void init() throws TranscoderException {
-            if (!mInit) {
-                if (mTranscoderInput == null) {
+            if (!initialized) {
+                if (transcoderInput == null) {
                     throw new IllegalStateException("input == null");
                 }
 
-                mInit = true;
+                initialized = true;
 
-                super.transcode(mTranscoderInput, null);
+                super.transcode(transcoderInput, null);
             }
         }
 
         private BufferedImage getImage() throws TranscoderException {
-            if (mImage == null) {
-                mImage = readImage();
+            if (image == null) {
+                image = readImage();
             }
-            return mImage;
+
+            return image;
         }
 
         protected int getDefaultWidth() throws TranscoderException {
             init();
-            return (int) (mDefaultWidth + 0.5);
+            return (int) (defaultWidth + 0.5);
         }
 
         protected int getDefaultHeight() throws TranscoderException {
             init();
-            return (int) (mDefaultHeight + 0.5);
+            return (int) (defaultHeight + 0.5);
         }
 
-        public void setInput(TranscoderInput pInput) {
-            mTranscoderInput = pInput;
+        public void setInput(final TranscoderInput pInput) {
+            transcoderInput = pInput;
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/imageio/imageio-batik/src/main/java/com/twelvemonkeys/imageio/plugins/svg/SVGImageReaderSpi.java b/imageio/imageio-batik/src/main/java/com/twelvemonkeys/imageio/plugins/svg/SVGImageReaderSpi.java
index 3c1744d8..0d1d2a94 100755
--- a/imageio/imageio-batik/src/main/java/com/twelvemonkeys/imageio/plugins/svg/SVGImageReaderSpi.java
+++ b/imageio/imageio-batik/src/main/java/com/twelvemonkeys/imageio/plugins/svg/SVGImageReaderSpi.java
@@ -29,8 +29,8 @@
 package com.twelvemonkeys.imageio.plugins.svg;
 
 import com.twelvemonkeys.imageio.spi.ProviderInfo;
-import com.twelvemonkeys.lang.SystemUtil;
 import com.twelvemonkeys.imageio.util.IIOUtil;
+import com.twelvemonkeys.lang.SystemUtil;
 
 import javax.imageio.ImageReader;
 import javax.imageio.spi.ImageReaderSpi;
@@ -80,18 +80,18 @@ public class SVGImageReaderSpi extends ImageReaderSpi {
         );
     }
 
-    public boolean canDecodeInput(Object pSource) throws IOException {
+    public boolean canDecodeInput(final Object pSource) throws IOException {
         return pSource instanceof ImageInputStream && SVG_READER_AVAILABLE && canDecode((ImageInputStream) pSource);
     }
 
-    private static boolean canDecode(ImageInputStream pInput) throws IOException {
+    private static boolean canDecode(final ImageInputStream pInput) throws IOException {
         // NOTE: This test is quite quick as it does not involve any parsing,
         // however it requires the doctype to be "svg", which may not be correct
         // in all cases...
         try {
             pInput.mark();
 
-            // TODO: This is may not be ok for non-UTF/iso-latin encodings...
+            // TODO: This is not ok for UTF-16 and other wide encodings
             // TODO: Use an XML (encoding) aware Reader instance instead
             // Need to figure out pretty fast if this is XML or not
             int b;
@@ -111,9 +111,14 @@ public class SVGImageReaderSpi extends ImageReaderSpi {
                     // Skip over, until begin tag
                 }
 
-                // If this is not a comment, or the DOCTYPE declaration, the doc
-                // has no DOCTYPE and it can't be svg
-                if (pInput.read() != '!') {
+                if ((b = pInput.read()) != '!') {
+                    if (b == 's' && pInput.read() == 'v' && pInput.read() == 'g'
+                            && (Character.isWhitespace((char) (b = pInput.read())) || b == ':')) {
+                        // TODO: Support svg with prefix + recognize namespace (http://www.w3.org/2000/svg)!
+                        return true;
+                    }
+
+                    // If this is not a comment, or the DOCTYPE declaration, the doc has no DOCTYPE and it can't be svg
                     return false;
                 }
 
@@ -126,19 +131,19 @@ public class SVGImageReaderSpi extends ImageReaderSpi {
                 }
 
                 // If we are lucky, this is DOCTYPE declaration
-                if (b == 'D' && pInput.read() == 'O' && pInput.read() == 'C'
-                        && pInput.read() == 'T' && pInput.read() == 'Y' && pInput.read() == 'P'
-                        && pInput.read() == 'E') {
+                if (b == 'D' && pInput.read() == 'O' && pInput.read() == 'C' && pInput.read() == 'T'
+                        && pInput.read() == 'Y' && pInput.read() == 'P' && pInput.read() == 'E') {
                     docTypeFound = true;
                     while (Character.isWhitespace((char) (b = pInput.read()))) {
                         // Skip over WS
                     }
+
                     if (b == 's' && pInput.read() == 'v' && pInput.read() == 'g') {
-                        //System.out.println("It's svg!");
                         return true;
                     }
                 }
             }
+
             return false;
         }
         finally {
@@ -147,17 +152,17 @@ public class SVGImageReaderSpi extends ImageReaderSpi {
     }
 
 
-    public ImageReader createReaderInstance(Object extension) throws IOException {
+    public ImageReader createReaderInstance(final Object extension) throws IOException {
         return new SVGImageReader(this);
     }
 
-    public String getDescription(Locale locale) {
+    public String getDescription(final Locale locale) {
         return "Scaleable Vector Graphics (SVG) format image reader";
     }
 
     @SuppressWarnings({"deprecation"})
     @Override
-    public void onRegistration(ServiceRegistry registry, Class<?> category) {
+    public void onRegistration(final ServiceRegistry registry, final Class<?> category) {
         if (!SVG_READER_AVAILABLE) {
             try {
                 // NOTE: This will break, but it gives us some useful debug info
diff --git a/imageio/imageio-batik/src/test/java/com/twelvemonkeys/imageio/plugins/svg/SVGImageReaderTestCase.java b/imageio/imageio-batik/src/test/java/com/twelvemonkeys/imageio/plugins/svg/SVGImageReaderTestCase.java
index e6738a11..40ebd140 100755
--- a/imageio/imageio-batik/src/test/java/com/twelvemonkeys/imageio/plugins/svg/SVGImageReaderTestCase.java
+++ b/imageio/imageio-batik/src/test/java/com/twelvemonkeys/imageio/plugins/svg/SVGImageReaderTestCase.java
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@ package com.twelvemonkeys.imageio.plugins.svg;
 import com.twelvemonkeys.imageio.util.ImageReaderAbstractTestCase;
 import org.junit.Ignore;
 import org.junit.Test;
-import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 
 import javax.imageio.ImageReadParam;
 import javax.imageio.ImageReader;
@@ -43,6 +42,8 @@ import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.List;
 
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+
 /**
  * SVGImageReaderTestCase
  *
@@ -55,7 +56,9 @@ public class SVGImageReaderTestCase extends ImageReaderAbstractTestCase<SVGImage
 
     protected List<TestData> getTestData() {
         return Arrays.asList(
-                new TestData(getClassLoaderResource("/svg/batikLogo.svg"), new Dimension(450, 500))
+                new TestData(getClassLoaderResource("/svg/batikLogo.svg"), new Dimension(450, 500)),
+                new TestData(getClassLoaderResource("/svg/red-square.svg"), new Dimension(100, 100)),
+                new TestData(getClassLoaderResource("/svg/blue-square.svg"), new Dimension(100, 100))
         );
     }
 
@@ -114,19 +117,19 @@ public class SVGImageReaderTestCase extends ImageReaderAbstractTestCase<SVGImage
     public void testReadWithSourceRegionParamEqualImage() throws IOException {
         super.testReadWithSourceRegionParamEqualImage();
     }
-    
+
     @Test
     public void testRepeatedRead() throws IOException {
-    	Dimension dim = new Dimension(100, 100);
-    	ImageReader reader = createReader();
-    	ImageReadParam param = reader.getDefaultReadParam();
+        Dimension dim = new Dimension(100, 100);
+        ImageReader reader = createReader();
+        ImageReadParam param = reader.getDefaultReadParam();
         param.setSourceRenderSize(dim);
-    	
-    	TestData redSquare = new TestData(getClassLoaderResource("/svg/red-square.svg"), dim);
+
+        TestData redSquare = new TestData(getClassLoaderResource("/svg/red-square.svg"), dim);
         reader.setInput(redSquare.getInputStream());
         BufferedImage imageRed = reader.read(0, param);
         assertEquals(0xFF0000, imageRed.getRGB(50, 50) & 0xFFFFFF);
-        
+
         TestData blueSquare = new TestData(getClassLoaderResource("/svg/blue-square.svg"), dim);
         reader.setInput(blueSquare.getInputStream());
         BufferedImage imageBlue = reader.read(0, param);