JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground
by Bart Kalisz
HTML
<div class="svg-bg-test">
</div>
<div>
<svg class="icon-play">
<use xlink:href="#play" />
</svg>
</div>
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" style="display: none;">
<symbol id="play" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" width="24">
<path d="M0 0h24v24H0V0z" fill="none" />
<path d="M12 2C6.48 2 2 6.48 2 12s4.48 10 10 10 10-4.48 10-10S17.52 2 12 2zm-2 14.5v-9l6 4.5-6 4.5z" />
</symbol>
</svg>
CSS
.svg-bg-test {
background-image: url("data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' class='icon-play'%3E%3Cuse xlink:href='%23play' /%3E%3C/svg%3E");
background-size: 100%;
width: 100px;
height: 100px;
}