What is a AVIF file?

AVIF — next-generation image

What is it?

AVIF is the most efficient image format available today: at equivalent quality, it produces files half the size of a JPEG, and noticeably smaller than WebP.

It also handles what its predecessors can't: 10- and 12-bit colour, high dynamic range (HDR), transparency, and animation. Its gradients don't show the ugly banding you sometimes get with JPEG.

History & origin

AVIF is derived from the AV1 video codec, released in 2018 by the Alliance for Open Media — a consortium bringing together Google, Netflix, Amazon, Mozilla, and Apple to build a royalty-free codec, in response to the patent burden weighing down HEVC.

The image specification was published in 2019. Browsers adopted it quickly, including Safari from 2022 onward.

Why it is useful

The best compression ratio on the market, supported by all recent browsers. On a photo-heavy website, the bandwidth savings are substantial.

An open format with no licensing fees: no one will ever come knocking for royalties.

Limits & drawbacks

Encoding is slow — noticeably slower than JPEG — which becomes a real burden when processing thousands of images.

Outside the web, it's still far from universal: many desktop applications, printers, and older phones don't recognise it.

Practical tips

AVIF is excellent for shrinking a website's footprint without sacrificing quality. Always keep a JPEG or WebP fallback on hand for visitors on older hardware.

To share a photo by email or send it to be printed, stick with JPEG: compatibility matters more than efficiency in that case.

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