.avif

What is a .avif file?

AVIF is a next-generation image format based on the AV1 video codec — smaller than WebP and JPG at the same quality, with growing browser support.

Safe format
Type Image
By Alliance for Open Media
MIME image/avif

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What is it

You encountered an AVIF image on the web or saved one from a modern website. AVIF produces smaller files than both WebP and JPG at equivalent visual quality, making it the most efficient image format currently available for web delivery.

AVIF is derived from the AV1 video codec, developed by the Alliance for Open Media (Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Netflix). It supports lossy and lossless compression, transparency, HDR, and wide colour gamuts. Chrome, Firefox, and Safari all render AVIF natively. The main limitation is encoding speed — AVIF takes significantly longer to compress than JPG or WebP, which matters for real-time applications but not for static assets.

Modern browsers display AVIF without issues. GIMP 2.10+ can open and export AVIF files. For converting images to AVIF format, tools like Squoosh (Google's web-based compressor) and libavif handle the job. If you need maximum compatibility, use JPG or WebP. If you're optimising web performance and your audience uses modern browsers, AVIF delivers the best quality-to-size ratio available.

Technical details
Full Name
AV1 Image File Format
MIME Type
image/avif
Developer
Alliance for Open Media
Magic Bytes
00 00 00 ?? 66 74 79 70 61 76 69 66
Safety
.avif is a known, safe format.
What opens it
Chrome / Edge / Firefox
FREE All
Safari 16+
FREE macOS / iOS
GIMP 2.10+
FREE All
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FAQ
Is AVIF better than WebP?
AVIF generally produces smaller files at the same quality, but encoding is slower and software support is less mature. Both are significant improvements over JPG.
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