diff --git a/src/algorithms/draw.cpp b/src/algorithms/draw.cpp
index 1c606138..1c83d852 100644
--- a/src/algorithms/draw.cpp
+++ b/src/algorithms/draw.cpp
@@ -113,6 +113,23 @@ bool is_too_close(double x, double y, const std::string& content, double thresho
     }
     return false;
 }
+
+uint64_t node_hash(const nid_t& node_id) {
+    uint64_t x = node_id;
+    x = (~x) + (x << 21); // x = (x << 21) - x - 1;
+    x = x ^ (x >> 24);
+    x = (x + (x << 3)) + (x << 8); // x * 265
+    x = x ^ (x >> 14);
+    x = (x + (x << 2)) + (x << 4); // x * 21
+    x = x ^ (x >> 28);
+    x = x + (x << 31);
+    return x;
+}
+bool keep_node(const nid_t& node_id, const float f) {
+    // hash the node_id and check if it's accepted given our sparsification factor
+    return node_hash(node_id) < std::numeric_limits<uint64_t>::max() * f;
+}
+
 void draw_svg(std::ostream &out,
               const std::vector<double> &X,
               const std::vector<double> &Y,
@@ -121,7 +138,8 @@ void draw_svg(std::ostream &out,
               const double& border,
 			  const double& line_width,
 			  std::vector<algorithms::color_t>& node_id_to_color,
-              ska::flat_hash_map<handlegraph::nid_t, std::set<std::string>>& node_id_to_label_map) {
+              ska::flat_hash_map<handlegraph::nid_t, std::set<std::string>>& node_id_to_label_map,
+              const float& sparsification_factor) {
 
     std::vector<std::vector<handle_t>> weak_components;
     coord_range_2d_t rendered_range;
@@ -161,6 +179,11 @@ void draw_svg(std::ostream &out,
         for (auto& handle : component) {
             uint64_t a = 2 * number_bool_packing::unpack_number(handle);
 			algorithms::color_t color = node_id_to_color.empty() ? COLOR_BLACK : node_id_to_color[graph.get_id(handle)];
+
+            if (!(sparsification_factor == 0 || keep_node(graph.get_id(handle), sparsification_factor) || node_id_to_label_map.count(graph.get_id(handle)))) {
+                continue; // Skip this node to output a lighter SVG (do not nodes with labels, if any)
+            }
+
             if (color == COLOR_BLACK || color == COLOR_LIGHTGRAY) {
                 out << "<line x1=\""
                     << (X[a] * scale) - x_off
diff --git a/src/algorithms/draw.hpp b/src/algorithms/draw.hpp
index f74762ad..386657ee 100644
--- a/src/algorithms/draw.hpp
+++ b/src/algorithms/draw.hpp
@@ -72,7 +72,8 @@ void draw_svg(std::ostream &out,
               const double& border,
 			  const double& line_width,
 			  std::vector<algorithms::color_t>& node_id_to_color,
-              ska::flat_hash_map<handlegraph::nid_t, std::set<std::string>>& node_id_to_label_map);
+              ska::flat_hash_map<handlegraph::nid_t, std::set<std::string>>& node_id_to_label_map,
+              const float& sparsification_factor);
 
 std::vector<uint8_t> rasterize(const std::vector<double> &X,
                                const std::vector<double> &Y,
diff --git a/src/subcommand/draw_main.cpp b/src/subcommand/draw_main.cpp
index 2ef208dc..178c8196 100644
--- a/src/subcommand/draw_main.cpp
+++ b/src/subcommand/draw_main.cpp
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ int main_draw(int argc, char **argv) {
                                                 "Colors are derived from the 4th column, if present, else from the path name."
                                                 "If the 4th column value is in the format 'string#RRGGBB', the RRGGBB color (in hex notation) will be used.",
                                                 {'b', "bed-file"});
+    args::ValueFlag<float> node_sparsification(parser, "N", "Remove this fraction of nodes from the SVG output (to output smaller files) (default: 0.0, keep all nodes).", {'f', "sparse-factor-svg"});
     args::Group threading(parser, "[ Threading ]");
 	args::ValueFlag<uint64_t> nthreads(threading, "N", "Number of threads to use for parallel operations.", {'t', "threads"});
 	args::Group processing_info_opts(parser, "[ Processing Information ]");
@@ -182,7 +183,6 @@ int main_draw(int argc, char **argv) {
     const double _png_line_width = png_line_width ? args::get(png_line_width) : 10.0;
     const bool _color_paths = args::get(color_paths);
     const double _png_path_line_spacing = png_path_line_spacing ? args::get(png_path_line_spacing) : 0.0;
-    const double svg_scale = !svg_render_scale ? 0.01 : args::get(svg_render_scale);
     size_t max_node_depth = 0;
     graph.for_each_handle(
         [&](const handle_t& h) {
@@ -219,12 +219,14 @@ int main_draw(int argc, char **argv) {
     }
 
     if (svg_out_file) {
+        const double svg_scale = !svg_render_scale ? 0.01 : args::get(svg_render_scale);
+        const float sparse_nodes = node_sparsification ? args::get(node_sparsification) : 0.0;
         auto& outfile = args::get(svg_out_file);
         ofstream f(outfile.c_str());
         // todo could be done with callbacks
         std::vector<double> X = layout.get_X();
         std::vector<double> Y = layout.get_Y();
-        algorithms::draw_svg(f, X, Y, graph, svg_scale, border_bp, _png_line_width, node_id_to_color, node_id_to_label_map);
+        algorithms::draw_svg(f, X, Y, graph, svg_scale, border_bp, _png_line_width, node_id_to_color, node_id_to_label_map, sparse_nodes);
         f.close();    
     }