AVIF Format: The Next-Gen Image Format Explained

What is AVIF?

AVIF (AV1 Image File Format) is a royalty-free image format developed by the Alliance for Open Media. It's based on the AV1 video codec and offers exceptional compression efficiency - often 50% smaller than JPEG and 20% smaller than WebP at equivalent visual quality.

AVIF vs Other Formats

Browser Support

AVIF support has grown significantly since its introduction. As of December 2024:

When to Use AVIF

✅ Use AVIF For:

• High-quality photography - AVIF excels at preserving detail in photographs
• Bandwidth-constrained users - Smaller files mean faster loading
• HDR content - Superior support for high dynamic range
• Modern web applications - With progressive enhancement fallbacks

❌ Avoid AVIF When:

• 100% browser support is required - Use JPEG as fallback
• Real-time encoding is needed - AVIF encoding is slower
• Supporting legacy systems - Some older software can't read AVIF

Implementing AVIF with Fallbacks

Use the HTML picture element to serve AVIF with fallbacks for unsupported browsers:

<picture>
  <source type="image/avif" srcset="image.avif">
  <source type="image/webp" srcset="image.webp">
  <img src="image.jpg" alt="Description">
</picture>

This approach serves AVIF to supported browsers, WebP as secondary fallback, and JPEG for maximum compatibility.

The Future of AVIF

AVIF adoption is growing rapidly. With major browser vendors now supporting the format and major platforms like Netflix, Facebook, and Apple using it, AVIF is positioned to become the dominant image format for the web.