AVIF Format — Complete Guide & Converter

Everything you need to know about the AVIF file format: technical specifications, use cases, compatibility, and free conversion tools.

What is a AVIF File?

AVIF (AV1 Image File Format) is a modern image format that stores pictures compressed with the AV1 video codec inside a HEIF container, the same container family Apple uses for HEIC. It was published by the Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia) in 2019 as an open, royalty-free format. AVIF's main attraction is compression efficiency. At the same visual quality, AVIF files are commonly around half the size of a JPEG and noticeably smaller than WebP, particularly for photographs. It also supports features JPEG lacks entirely: 8, 10 and 12-bit color, HDR and wide color gamuts, full alpha transparency, and image sequences for animation. In practice, you're most likely to meet AVIF on the web. Image CDNs such as Cloudflare's, and large sites like Netflix and many news and shopping sites, serve AVIF to browsers that support it, which is why images saved from websites sometimes arrive as .avif files.

History of the AVIF Format

AV1 was developed by the Alliance for Open Media, a consortium founded in 2015 by Google, Mozilla, Microsoft, Netflix, Amazon, Cisco and Intel, to create a royalty-free alternative to the patent-encumbered HEVC video codec. Once AV1 video was finalized in 2018, AOMedia applied its intra-frame (still image) coding to pictures, and the AVIF 1.0 specification followed in February 2019. Netflix was an early public advocate, publishing research on AVIF for artwork and thumbnails. Browser support arrived quickly: Chrome 85 (August 2020), Firefox 93 (October 2021) and Safari 16 (September 2022, with macOS Ventura and iOS 16). Microsoft added AVIF support to Windows 10 and 11 through the AV1 Video Extension, and Edge enabled AVIF in 2024. Today AVIF is a mainstream web format, recommended alongside WebP by Google's PageSpeed tools, while support in desktop editors, office software and older operating systems is still catching up.

AVIF Technical Specifications

File Extension	.avif
MIME Type	image/avif
Compression	AV1 intra-frame (lossy or lossless)
Color Depth	8, 10 or 12 bits per channel
HDR / Wide Gamut	Supported (PQ, HLG, BT.2020)
Transparency	Full alpha channel
Animation	Supported
Developed By	Alliance for Open Media (2019)

AVIF Advantages & Limitations

Advantages

✓Typically around 50% smaller than JPEG at similar visual quality
✓Often smaller than WebP, especially for photos
✓Supports 8, 10 and 12-bit color, HDR and wide color gamuts
✓Full alpha transparency
✓Supports animation (image sequences)
✓Open and royalty-free (AOMedia)
✓Supported by all current major browsers

Limitations

✗Encoding is slow compared with JPEG and WebP
✗Many desktop editors and office apps don't open AVIF yet
✗Not supported by older browsers, operating systems and phones
✗Very large images are split into tiles, which some decoders handle poorly
✗Rarely accepted by upload forms, print services and marketplaces
✗Less mature tooling than JPEG, PNG or WebP

Common Use Cases for AVIF

AVIF is used mainly for web delivery. Sites that care about page speed, such as e-commerce stores, media sites and image-heavy blogs, serve AVIF to supporting browsers to cut image bytes and improve Largest Contentful Paint, usually with WebP or JPEG fallbacks in a <picture> element. Image CDNs generate AVIF automatically from uploaded originals. AVIF is also used for HDR photos, since it can store 10- or 12-bit HDR images that display correctly on HDR screens, and by some Android phones as a capture or sharing format. Its animation support makes it an efficient replacement for GIF in some web apps. Outside the browser, AVIF is less practical. When you need to edit an image in older software, place it in a document, upload it to a form or send it to a print lab, converting AVIF to JPG or PNG is usually the quickest solution.

Convert AVIF to Other Formats

Transform your AVIF files to any of the supported target formats below. Each conversion preserves maximum quality and is completely free.

AVIF to JPG AVIF to PNG

AVIF vs Related Formats

AVIF is the newest of the modern image formats. Compared with JPEG it offers far better compression, HDR and transparency; compared with WebP it is usually smaller but slower to encode and slightly less widely supported; compared with HEIC it is royalty-free and supported by browsers. JPEG and PNG remain the safe choices for compatibility outside the web.

JPG Format Guide PNG Format Guide WEBP Format Guide HEIC Format Guide GIF Format Guide BMP Format Guide TIFF Format Guide JFIF Format Guide ICO Format Guide

AVIF — Frequently Asked Questions

What is an AVIF file?

An image compressed with the AV1 video codec. It's a modern, royalty-free format that makes images much smaller than JPEG at the same quality, and it supports transparency and HDR.

How do I open AVIF files?

Current versions of Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari open AVIF directly. On Windows 10/11, install Microsoft's free AV1 Video Extension for Photos support; on macOS Ventura and later, Preview opens AVIF. Otherwise, convert it to JPG or PNG.

Is AVIF better than WebP?

AVIF usually produces smaller files at the same quality and supports HDR, but it encodes more slowly and has slightly less support in older software. Many sites serve both.

Is AVIF better than JPEG?

For file size, yes, often about half the size. JPEG is still far more compatible with editors, forms and printers.

Why did an image I downloaded save as .avif?

Many websites and CDNs serve AVIF to browsers that support it because it loads faster. Saving the image gives you the AVIF file the site delivered.

Can I convert AVIF to JPG or PNG?

Yes. Convert AVIF to JPG for a small, universally compatible photo, or AVIF to PNG to keep transparency and avoid further lossy compression.

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HEIC JPG MP4 MP3 PNG WEBP WAV AVI BMP Word FLAC GIF ICO JFIF M4A MKV MOV OGG PDF PowerPoint TIFF TXT WEBM