AV1 Image File Format (AVIF) is an open, royalty-free image file format specification for storing images or image sequences compressed with AV1 in the HEIF container format.[1][2] It competes with HEIC, which uses the same container format built upon ISOBMFF, but HEVC for compression. Version 1.0.0 of the AVIF specification was finalized in February 2019.
In a number of tests by Netflix in 2020, AVIF showed better compression efficiency than JPEG as well as better detail preservation, fewer blocking artifacts and less color bleeding around hard edges in composites of natural images, text, and graphics.[3]
AVIF support is available in all the major web browsers (i.e. over 93% of all web browsers,[4] similar level of support as for WebP it was made to replace).
Level 5.1 is chosen for the Baseline profile to ensure that no single coded image exceeds 8K resolution, as some decoders may not be able to handle larger images. More precisely, coded image items compliant to the AVIF Baseline profile may not have a total number of pixels greater than 8,912,896, a width greater than 8,192, or a height greater than 4,352. It is still possible to use the Baseline profile to create larger images using grid derivation.
AVIF Advanced Profile
Uses AV1 High Profile
AV1 level is 6.0 or lower
Coded image items compliant to the AVIF Advanced profile may not have a total number of pixels greater than 35,651,584, a width greater than 16,384, or a height greater than 8,704. It is still possible to use the Advanced profile to create larger images using grid derivation.
Support
On 14 December 2018, Netflix published the first .avif sample images.[8] In November 2020, HDR sample images with PQ transfer function and BT.2020 color primaries were published.[5]
In August 2020, Google Chrome version 85 was released with full AVIF support.[9] Google Chrome 89 for Android adds AVIF support.[10]
In October 2021, Mozilla Firefox 93 was released with default AVIF support.[11]
WebKit added AVIF support on 5 March 2021. Safari for iOS 16 and macOS Ventura added support for AVIF; iOS 16 was released on 12 September 2022[12] and macOS Ventura on 24 October 2022.[13] Safari 16.4 retroactively added AVIF support for macOS Monterey and macOS Big Sur.[14]
Microsoft Edge added AVIF support in version 121 released in January 2024.[15]
Windows – Microsoft announced support with the Windows 10, version 1903 preview release, including support in File Explorer, Paint, and multiple APIs, together with sample images.
Android – Android 12, released on 4 October 2021, added native support for AVIF.[34]
Linux – AVIF is widely supported in Linux distributions. With the release of libavif 0.8.0 in July 2020, which added a GdkPixbuf plugin, AVIF support is present in most GNOME/GTK applications.[35] The KDE Frameworks added support for AVIF to the "KImageFormats" library in January 2021, enabling most KDE/Qt applications to support viewing and saving AVIF images.[36] Nomacs 3.16 adds support for AVIF viewing and conversion. Nomacs appimage is also for older Linux.
Apple platforms – iOS 16, iPadOS 16 and macOS Ventura natively support AVIF. AVIF images can be directly viewed in the Finder, with QuickLook, in the iOS Files app, etc.
Websites
Cloudflare announced AVIF support in a blog post on 3 October 2020.[37]
Vimeo announced AVIF support in a blog post on 3 June 2021.[38]
^Mavlankar, Aditya; De Cock, Jan; Concolato, Cyril; Swanson, Kyle; Moorthy, Anush; Aaron, Anne (13 February 2020). "AVIF for Next-Generation Image Coding". The Netflix Tech Blog. Archived from the original on 15 February 2020. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
^ abConcolato, Cyril (14 October 2019). "AV1 Image File Format (AVIF)"(PDF). AOMedia. Archived(PDF) from the original on 5 November 2019. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
