FixFile
File Format

AVIF (.avif)

AV1 Image File Format — next-generation image format with compression 50% better than JPG. Natively supported in Chrome, Firefox, and modern browsers.

Extension
.avif
MIME Type
image/avif

Last updated

Overview

AVIF (AV1 Image File Format) is a modern image format derived from the AV1 video codec, developed by the Alliance for Open Media (including Google, Apple, Microsoft, Mozilla, and Amazon). Released in 2019, AVIF achieves 50% better compression than JPEG and 20% better than WebP at equivalent visual quality.

AVIF is the HEIF container (like HEIC) but using the open-source, royalty-free AV1 codec instead of HEVC. This eliminates the patent licensing issues that limit HEIC adoption on non-Apple platforms. Chrome added AVIF support in 2020, Firefox in 2021, and Safari in 2022, making it viable for web delivery.

Common Uses

  • Web image delivery — the most efficient option for photos and graphics on modern websites
  • E-commerce product images — faster loading, smaller bandwidth bills without visible quality loss
  • Content delivery networks — Netflix, Google, Meta, and Apple are actively deploying AVIF
  • Photography archiving — high-quality lossy compression for photo libraries where file size matters

Advantages

  • Best-in-class compression — 50% smaller than JPG, 20% smaller than WebP at equivalent quality
  • Royalty-free — AV1 codec carries no patent royalties; anyone can implement it freely
  • Modern colour support — native HDR (10-bit and 12-bit depth), wide colour gamut, and alpha channel
  • Broad browser support — Chrome 85+, Firefox 93+, Safari 16+, Edge 90+

Limitations

  • Slow encoding — AV1 encoding is 10–50× slower than H.264/JPEG encoding, making real-time conversion expensive
  • Limited native OS support — Windows and macOS do not display AVIF thumbnails in file explorers without updates
  • Editing software gaps — Photoshop, Lightroom, and many image editors require plugins
  • Decoding performance — older mobile devices may struggle with hardware-accelerated AVIF decoding

Supported Software

  • Browsers: Chrome 85+, Firefox 93+, Safari 16+, Edge 90+
  • Desktop: GIMP 2.10.28+, Photoshop (plugin), IrfanView 4.60+, ImageMagick
  • Encoding: libavif, Squoosh (web), FixFile.online converter

Tools for AVIF files