diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/polish/container.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/polish/container.py
index 68ea7f20a6..d9360ab716 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/polish/container.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/polish/container.py
@@ -702,6 +702,23 @@ class Container(ContainerBase):  # {{{
         self.dirty(self.opf_name)
         return removed_names, added_names
 
+    def add_properties(self, name, *properties):
+        ''' Add the specified properties to the manifest item identified by name. '''
+        properties = frozenset(properties)
+        if not properties:
+            return True
+        for p in properties:
+            if p.startswith('calibre:'):
+                ensure_prefix(self.opf, None, 'calibre', CALIBRE_PREFIX)
+                break
+        for item in self.opf_xpath('//opf:manifest/opf:item'):
+            iname = self.href_to_name(item.get('href'), self.opf_name)
+            if name == iname:
+                props = frozenset((item.get('properties') or '').split()) | properties
+                item.set('properties', ' '.join(props))
+                return True
+        return False
+
     @property
     def guide_type_map(self):
         ' Mapping of guide type to canonical name '
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/polish/cover.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/polish/cover.py
index c0d2d7f2bf..6423765d6e 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/polish/cover.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/polish/cover.py
@@ -115,6 +115,7 @@ def is_raster_image(media_type):
     return media_type and media_type.lower() in {
         'image/png', 'image/jpeg', 'image/jpg', 'image/gif'}
 
+
 COVER_TYPES = {
     'coverimagestandard', 'other.ms-coverimage-standard',
     'other.ms-titleimage-standard', 'other.ms-titleimage',
@@ -345,11 +346,14 @@ def create_epub_cover(container, cover_path, existing_image, options=None):
     if no_svg:
         style = 'style="height: 100%%"'
         templ = CoverManager.NONSVG_TEMPLATE.replace('__style__', style)
+        has_svg = False
     else:
         if callable(cover_path):
             templ = (options or {}).get('template', CoverManager.SVG_TEMPLATE)
+            has_svg = 'xlink:href' in templ
         else:
             width, height = 600, 800
+            has_svg = True
             try:
                 if existing_image:
                     width, height = identify(container.raw_data(existing_image, decode=False))[1:]
@@ -400,6 +404,8 @@ def create_epub_cover(container, cover_path, existing_image, options=None):
     else:
         container.apply_unique_properties(raster_cover, 'cover-image')
         container.apply_unique_properties(titlepage, 'calibre:title-page')
+        if has_svg:
+            container.add_properties(titlepage, 'svg')
 
     return raster_cover, titlepage