What Is the AVIF Format?
If WebP was the previous generation of efficient formats, AVIF is this one: the same image, another chunk smaller. It already appears quietly on Netflix and parts of the content web. Three minutes and you'll know the whole story.
An image format from a video codec
AVIF is built on the open AV1 video codec (from the AOMedia alliance, driven by Google and Netflix), applying intra-frame video compression to still images. Compression beats JPG and WebP clearly, and it's royalty-free — which is what makes adoption viable.
Where it wins
Equal quality at roughly 1/3 to 1/2 the size of JPG; 10/12-bit color depth, HDR, wide gamut and alpha transparency all supported. On paper it leads across the board — which is why video platforms adopted it first.
Support status
All mainstream browsers decode AVIF now. The gap is outside the browser: Windows image viewers, asset software and countless upload endpoints remain patchy. AVIF's last mile isn't finished.
When to convert to JPG
Your own web assets can adopt AVIF freely to save bandwidth; images destined for people, design tools or older systems should go through this site's AVIF-to-JPG tool — default 90% quality is a fine setting.