AVIF (AV1 Image File Format) is a modern image format based on the AV1 video codec's intra-frame compression. Developed by the Alliance for Open Media, AVIF achieves up to 50% smaller file sizes than JPEG at equivalent quality — a significant improvement over WebP's 25-35%. It supports HDR, wide color gamut, both lossy and lossless modes, and alpha transparency.
AVIF uses partition-based coding inherited from AV1 video, with complex intra-prediction modes that can analyze larger regions of the image to find patterns. This makes it particularly efficient at encoding photographic content with gradients and complex textures. However, encoding is significantly slower than JPEG or WebP — a trade-off between compression time and file size.
Browser support is growing: Chrome (since 2020), Firefox (since 2021), and Safari (since iOS 16 / macOS Ventura). For 2026, AVIF is viable for web use with WebP as a fallback. FileCurve's image converter can convert to and from AVIF format.