AVIF Format — What is AV1 Image File Format?
AVIF is a next-generation image format based on the AV1 video codec. It offers exceptional compression efficiency, often outperforming WebP and JPEG significantly.
Extension
.avif
Compression
Lossy
Transparency
Yes
MIME Type
image/avif
Pros & Cons
✅ Pros
- • Best-in-class compression
- • HDR support
- • Transparency support
- • Royalty-free
❌ Cons
- • Slow encoding
- • Limited browser support
- • New format
- • Hardware acceleration limited
Best Use Cases
- Maximum compression
- HDR images
- Modern web apps
- Future-proofing
Technical Details
AVIF uses AV1 intra-frame coding in an ISOBMFF container. It supports 8, 10, and 12-bit color depths, HDR with PQ and HLG transfer functions, and wide color gamut.
History
AVIF was finalized in 2019 by the Alliance for Open Media. It's rapidly gaining browser support and is considered the successor to WebP for web image optimization.