AVIF Image Format: Next-Gen Compression Explained

AVIF is the most efficient image format available today. It produces files 50% smaller than JPEG and 20-30% smaller than WebP at the same visual quality — and it is royalty-free. With browser support now exceeding 92% globally, AVIF has moved from experimental curiosity to production-ready format.

This guide covers everything you need to know about AVIF: how it compresses, how it compares to alternatives, which browsers support it, how to create AVIF images, and when to adopt it in your workflow.

What Is AVIF?

AVIF (AV1 Image File Format) is an image format based on the AV1 video codec. It was developed by the Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia), a consortium that includes Google, Apple, Mozilla, Netflix, Microsoft, Amazon, and dozens of other technology companies.

The format was designed with three goals:

• Superior compression — Smaller files than JPEG, PNG, or WebP at equivalent quality.
• Modern features — HDR, wide color gamut (WCG), transparency (alpha channel), and animation support.
• Royalty-free licensing — No patent fees, unlike HEIF/HEIC which relies on HEVC patents.

AVIF uses the same container format as HEIF (based on ISO BMFF), but replaces the HEVC codec with AV1. This gives it comparable compression performance to HEIF while avoiding the patent licensing issues that have limited HEIF adoption on the web.

Key technical characteristics:

• Supports both lossy and lossless compression
• 8-bit, 10-bit, and 12-bit color depth
• 4:2:0, 4:2:2, and 4:4:4 chroma subsampling
• HDR support with PQ and HLG transfer functions
• Alpha channel for transparency
• Film grain synthesis for efficient video-like content

AVIF Compression Benchmarks

Numbers tell the real story. Here is how AVIF performs against other formats when compressing the same source image to equivalent perceptual quality:

Format	Typical Photo Size (1 MB JPEG reference)	Compression Ratio vs JPEG	Encoding Speed	Decoding Speed
AVIF	350-500 KB	50-65% smaller	Slow (2-10x slower than JPEG)	Fast
WebP	550-750 KB	25-45% smaller	Fast	Fast
JPEG	1,000 KB (reference)	Baseline	Very fast	Very fast
PNG	3,000-5,000 KB	3-5x larger (lossless)	Fast	Fast

Key benchmark findings:

• AVIF typically produces files 20-30% smaller than WebP at the same visual quality, measured by SSIM (structural similarity index).
• At low bitrates (high compression), AVIF’s advantage grows. Where JPEG shows obvious blocking artifacts and WebP shows smearing, AVIF maintains cleaner edges and more natural textures.
• AVIF excels with photographic content — images with complex textures, gradients, and fine detail. The format’s perceptual optimization preserves the details that matter most to human vision.
• For simple graphics with flat colors, the advantage over WebP narrows. PNG remains competitive for screenshots and diagrams with limited color palettes.

These benchmarks reflect typical results across standardized test sets. Your specific images may vary depending on content complexity, resolution, and target quality level.

AVIF vs WebP vs JPEG

Each format has strengths. Choosing the right one depends on your priorities.

When AVIF Wins

• Photographic images — AVIF’s compression is built for the complex textures and gradients found in photographs. It handles skin tones, landscapes, and product shots particularly well.
• High compression targets — When you need the smallest possible file size without visible degradation, AVIF outperforms both WebP and JPEG by a significant margin.
• HDR and wide color gamut — AVIF supports 10-bit and 12-bit color natively. If you work with HDR content or wide-gamut displays, AVIF preserves that color information.
• Transparency with photos — Unlike JPEG, AVIF supports alpha channels. Unlike PNG, it compresses the underlying photo efficiently. This makes it ideal for product images on transparent backgrounds.

When WebP Is Better

• Encoding speed matters — WebP encodes 2-10x faster than AVIF. For real-time processing, user-uploaded content, or high-volume pipelines where encoding speed is critical, WebP is more practical.
• Animation — WebP has more mature animation support and is better optimized for animated content. AVIF animation support exists but is less widely implemented.
• Broader tooling support — More image editors, CMS platforms, and processing libraries support WebP natively. AVIF tooling is catching up but not yet as universal.

When JPEG Still Works

• Maximum compatibility — JPEG is supported everywhere: every browser, every device, every image editor, every CMS, every email client. If compatibility is your top priority, JPEG is still the safest choice.
• Fast encoding in constrained environments — JPEG encoding is extremely fast and uses minimal memory. For embedded systems or real-time capture, JPEG remains practical.
• Legacy system integration — Many enterprise workflows, print pipelines, and older content management systems expect JPEG input and output.

For a detailed three-way comparison including PNG, see our WebP vs JPEG vs PNG guide.

Browser Support in 2026

AVIF has crossed the threshold from “emerging” to “mainstream.” As of early 2026, global browser support stands at approximately 92% of active users.

Browser	AVIF Support Since	Notes
Google Chrome	Version 85 (August 2020)	Full support including animation
Mozilla Firefox	Version 93 (October 2021)	Full support
Apple Safari	Version 16.4 (March 2023)	Full support on macOS and iOS
Microsoft Edge	Version 121 (January 2024)	Full support (Chromium-based)
Opera	Version 76 (2021)	Full support (Chromium-based)
Samsung Internet	Version 20 (2023)	Full support

What this means in practice:

• Over 9 in 10 web visitors can view AVIF images natively.
• Internet Explorer 11 does not support AVIF, but IE11 usage is effectively zero in 2026.
• The remaining unsupported traffic comes primarily from older Android devices running outdated browser versions.
• Every major mobile browser on both iOS and Android now supports AVIF.

With this level of support, AVIF is viable as a primary format when paired with a fallback strategy for the remaining 8% of users.

How to Create AVIF Images

Several tools can produce AVIF files, from browser-based converters to command-line utilities and programming libraries.

Browser-Based Tools

• BulkImagePro — Batch convert JPEG, PNG, or WebP images to AVIF directly in your browser. No uploads, no software installation. Process up to 50 images per batch.
• Squoosh (squoosh.app) — Google’s single-image compression tool with an AVIF encoder. Useful for one-off conversions and visual quality comparison.

Command-Line Tools

• libavif — The reference AVIF encoder/decoder library. Install via package managers on macOS (brew install libavif), Linux, or Windows. Includes the avifenc command for encoding.
• ImageMagick 7+ — Supports AVIF read/write when compiled with libavif. Use magick convert input.jpg -quality 50 output.avif for basic conversion.
• ffmpeg — Can produce AVIF images using the libaom-av1 encoder. More commonly used for video but works for still images.

Programming Libraries

• sharp (Node.js) — High-performance image processing. sharp('input.jpg').avif({ quality: 50 }).toFile('output.avif') is all you need.
• Pillow (Python) — Python’s standard imaging library supports AVIF read/write via the pillow-avif-plugin or natively in recent versions. image.save('output.avif', quality=50).
• libvips — Fast C library with bindings for many languages. Supports AVIF through libheif.

Recommended Quality Settings for AVIF

AVIF quality scales work differently from JPEG. An AVIF quality of 50 is roughly equivalent to JPEG quality 80 in visual terms.

Use Case	AVIF Quality	Equivalent JPEG Quality	Typical File Size
High-quality photos	55-65	85-90	150-400 KB
Standard web images	40-55	75-85	60-200 KB
Thumbnails	30-45	65-75	15-60 KB
Maximum compression	20-35	55-65	10-40 KB

AVIF Fallback Strategies

Even at 92% browser support, you should serve fallback formats for users whose browsers cannot decode AVIF. The HTML <picture> element makes this straightforward.

The Picture Element Approach

<picture>
  <source srcset="hero-image.avif" type="image/avif">
  <source srcset="hero-image.webp" type="image/webp">
  <img src="hero-image.jpg" alt="Description of image" width="1200" height="800">
</picture>

The browser selects the first format it supports. Modern browsers load the AVIF, older browsers that support WebP load that version, and anything else falls back to JPEG. The <img> tag serves as the final fallback and also provides the alt, width, and height attributes.

CDN-Level Content Negotiation

Major CDNs (Cloudflare, Fastly, AWS CloudFront) can detect browser support via the Accept header and serve the optimal format automatically. This approach requires no HTML changes — the CDN handles format selection at the edge.

How it works:

1. The browser sends an Accept: image/avif, image/webp, image/* header.
2. The CDN checks this header against available image variants.
3. The CDN serves AVIF to supported browsers, WebP to WebP-only browsers, and JPEG to everything else.
4. The Vary: Accept response header ensures correct caching.

Server-Side with .htaccess (Apache)

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
  RewriteEngine On

  # Serve AVIF if browser supports it and file exists
  RewriteCond %{HTTP_ACCEPT} image/avif
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} \.(jpe?g|png)$
  RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}%{REQUEST_URI}.avif -f
  RewriteRule ^(.+)\.(jpe?g|png)$ $1.$2.avif [T=image/avif,L]

  # Serve WebP if browser supports it and file exists
  RewriteCond %{HTTP_ACCEPT} image/webp
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} \.(jpe?g|png)$
  RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}%{REQUEST_URI}.webp -f
  RewriteRule ^(.+)\.(jpe?g|png)$ $1.$2.webp [T=image/webp,L]
</IfModule>

This approach stores AVIF and WebP versions alongside originals and serves the best format based on browser capabilities. It requires generating the alternative formats in advance using a tool like BulkImagePro’s converter or a build-time script.

AVIF Limitations

AVIF is not perfect. Understanding its limitations helps you decide where to use it and where alternatives serve you better.

Slow Encoding

AVIF encoding is significantly slower than JPEG or WebP. Depending on encoder settings, AVIF can take 2-10x longer to encode than WebP and up to 20x longer than JPEG. This matters for:

• Real-time image processing (user uploads, live transformations)
• High-volume pipelines processing thousands of images per hour
• Development workflows where fast iteration is important

For pre-generated static assets where encoding happens once and serving happens millions of times, this trade-off is usually acceptable.

Limited Animation Support

While AVIF technically supports animation (as a sequence of frames), the implementation is less mature than WebP animation or GIF. Browser support for animated AVIF is inconsistent, rendering performance varies, and creation tools are limited. For animated content, WebP or even GIF remain more reliable choices in 2026.

No Progressive Loading

JPEG supports progressive loading, where a low-quality preview appears immediately and sharpens as more data arrives. AVIF does not support this. The entire file must download before the image renders. On slow connections, this can make AVIF images feel slower to appear even though the total file size is smaller.

Higher Memory Footprint for Encoding

AVIF encoding uses substantially more RAM than JPEG or WebP encoding. This can be a constraint on memory-limited devices, serverless functions with tight memory caps, or when encoding very large images (8000+ pixels).

Tooling Gaps

While major browsers and libraries support AVIF, some tools and platforms still lag behind:

• Older versions of Photoshop and Lightroom lack native AVIF export
• Some CMS platforms do not accept AVIF uploads
• Email clients do not support AVIF (use JPEG for email)
• Some social media platforms strip or re-encode AVIF uploads

When to Adopt AVIF

Use this decision framework to determine if AVIF is right for your project.

Adopt AVIF now if:

• Your audience primarily uses modern browsers (check your analytics).
• You serve static content where encoding time is not a constraint.
• You can implement a fallback strategy (picture element or CDN negotiation).
• File size savings are a priority — every kilobyte matters for performance-critical pages.
• You work with HDR or wide-gamut content.

Wait on AVIF if:

• Your pipeline requires real-time encoding and cannot tolerate slower processing.
• Your CMS or hosting platform does not yet support AVIF uploads.
• You rely heavily on animated images (use WebP instead).
• Your audience includes a significant share of users on older devices or browsers.

Use AVIF alongside other formats:

For most websites in 2026, the optimal strategy is to generate AVIF, WebP, and JPEG versions of every image and serve the best format each browser supports. This approach maximizes compression for modern browsers while maintaining compatibility for everyone else.

For a deeper comparison of AVIF with HEIF, see our HEIF vs AVIF formats guide. For more on compression techniques across all formats, visit our image compression complete guide and image compression techniques breakdown.

FAQ

Is AVIF better than WebP?

For photographic images, yes. AVIF produces files 20-30% smaller than WebP at the same visual quality. However, WebP encodes faster, has broader tooling support, and handles animation better. For most websites, serving both formats with automatic negotiation delivers the best results.

Can I convert JPEG to AVIF without quality loss?

Converting from JPEG to AVIF always involves re-encoding, which introduces a generational quality loss. However, because AVIF is a more efficient codec, you can produce a smaller AVIF file that looks equal or better than the JPEG source. For best results, convert from the highest-quality source file available rather than an already-compressed JPEG.

Does Safari support AVIF images?

Yes. Safari has supported AVIF since version 16.4, released in March 2023. This applies to Safari on macOS, iOS, and iPadOS. All Apple devices running iOS 16.4 or later can display AVIF images natively.

Why does AVIF take so long to encode?

AVIF is based on the AV1 video codec, which was designed for maximum compression efficiency rather than encoding speed. The encoder performs extensive analysis of each image to find optimal compression decisions. This produces smaller files but takes 2-10x longer than WebP and up to 20x longer than JPEG. Encoding speed is improving as hardware acceleration and faster encoder implementations mature.

What quality setting should I use for AVIF?

AVIF quality scales differ from JPEG. For standard web images, an AVIF quality of 40-55 produces results visually equivalent to JPEG quality 75-85. Start at quality 50 and adjust based on visual inspection. For high-quality photography, use 55-65. For thumbnails, 30-45 is usually sufficient.

Can I use AVIF for e-commerce product images?

AVIF is excellent for product images. Its superior compression delivers fast page loads for image-heavy catalogs, and its support for transparency means you can have product photos on transparent backgrounds without the large file sizes of PNG. Serve AVIF with JPEG fallbacks using the HTML picture element to ensure all visitors see your products.

How do I batch convert images to AVIF?

Use BulkImagePro's converter to batch convert up to 50 images to AVIF directly in your browser. For larger volumes, command-line tools like libavif (avifenc) or the sharp Node.js library can process thousands of images via scripts. Both approaches let you set quality targets and output dimensions consistently across your entire image library.

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Ready to try AVIF compression? Convert your images to AVIF with BulkImagePro — batch convert up to 50 images at once, free and private in your browser. For a broader look at compression formats and techniques, read our complete image compression guide.