# AVIF Converter — Encode to AVIF or Decode AVIF to PNG, JPG and WebP > Convert images to and from AVIF in your browser, with a real encoder check so you never get a PNG renamed to .avif. To convert an image to AVIF, add it above, leave the format on AVIF and press Run — the file is encoded by your own browser and never uploaded. Going the other way, an AVIF file converts to PNG, JPG or WebP the same way. The browser's AVIF encoder is tested before anything runs. **URL:** https://convertto.tech/t/avif-converter **Category:** Image Tools (https://convertto.tech/c/image-tools) **Privacy:** Runs entirely in the browser; no upload **Cost:** Free, no sign-up **Last updated:** 2026-09-11 ## Key facts - **Privacy:** Runs entirely in your browser — images are never uploaded - **Encoding support:** Probed at run time with a two-pixel test encode, not guessed from the user agent - **Decoding support:** Chrome 85+, Firefox 93+, Safari 16.4+ — effectively every current browser - **Codec:** AVIF stores AV1 intra-frames inside an ISOBMFF/HEIF container - **Cost:** Free, unlimited, no sign-up ## What AVIF is AVIF is a still image wrapped in video technology. The pixels are coded as an AV1 intra-frame — the same compression a single still frame of an AV1 video gets — and stored in the ISOBMFF container that HEIF defines, which is why an AVIF file and an iPhone HEIC file are structurally cousins despite using different codecs. The format is specified by the Alliance for Open Media and is royalty-free, which is the practical reason it spread across browsers while HEIC did not. | | AVIF | WebP | JPG | PNG | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Compression | Lossy and lossless | Lossy and lossless | Lossy only | Lossless only | | Transparency | Yes, full alpha | Yes, full alpha | No | Yes, full alpha | | Animation | Yes | Yes | No | No (APNG is a separate format) | | Colour depth | Up to 12 bits per channel, HDR | 8 bits per channel | 8 bits per channel | Up to 16 bits per channel | | Browser decoding | Chrome 85+, Firefox 93+, Safari 16.4+ | Universal | Universal | Universal | | Browser encoding via canvas | Chromium only | Universal | Universal | Universal | *Encoding support is what limits this tool; decoding support is what limits who can open the result.* ## Why a converter can silently lie about AVIF The HTML specification is explicit: when `toBlob` or `convertToBlob` is asked for an image type the browser cannot produce, it does not throw — it returns a PNG. A converter that takes the resulting blob, renames the file to `.avif` and offers it for download has produced something that is not AVIF, is several times larger than the JPG it replaced, and will still display correctly in most places because browsers sniff content rather than trusting extensions. The failure is completely invisible until someone measures their page weight. > **This tool checks twice** — Before any conversion starts it encodes a two-pixel test image and reads the MIME type that comes back. Every real encode is then checked again. If either check fails you get an explanation and no file, rather than a PNG wearing an AVIF extension. ## When to use AVIF, and when not to - **Photographs on the web**, served from a `` element with a WebP or JPG fallback. This is where AVIF earns its keep, often at half the bytes of a comparable JPG. - **Large hero images** where the bandwidth saving is measured in hundreds of kilobytes and the fallback costs one extra `` line. - **Not for logos, icons or screenshots of text** — flat colour and sharp edges are what lossless PNG and lossless WebP are good at, and AVIF's advantage largely disappears. - **Not for files you are sending to someone else.** Design tools, office suites and older phones still refuse AVIF regularly. Convert to [PNG or JPG](https://convertto.tech/t/image-converter) first. - **Not when you need the metadata.** Re-encoding through a canvas drops EXIF and ICC profiles. Use the [EXIF remover](https://convertto.tech/t/exif-remover) if stripping metadata is the actual goal, and keep the original if it is not. ```html … ``` The browser takes the first `` whose type it can decode and ignores the rest, so no fallback is downloaded and nothing needs feature detection on your side. Keep the `width` and `height` attributes on the `` regardless of which source wins — they are what reserve the space and stop the page shifting as images load. ## How to use 1. Add one or more images — AVIF files to decode, or any other format to encode. 2. Choose the target format; leave it on AVIF to encode. 3. Set the quality — 50 to 65 is a normal range for AVIF photographs. 4. Press Run and download the results, individually or as a zip. ## FAQ ### Why does it say my browser cannot encode AVIF? Because it tested and found out. Writing AVIF from a canvas is currently a Chromium capability — Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera and Arc can do it; Firefox and Safari can display AVIF but not produce it. The HTML specification says an unsupported type silently falls back to PNG, so a tool that does not check the result would hand you a PNG with an .avif extension. This one refuses instead. ### Is AVIF actually smaller than WebP? Usually, and the gap widens as quality drops. AVIF is built on AV1 intra-frame coding, which has much better prediction and transform tooling than WebP's VP8 keyframes, so it holds detail at bitrates where WebP starts to blur. On flat graphics and small images the advantage narrows and can reverse — the file sizes reported after each run are the honest answer for your images. ### What quality setting should I use? Lower than you would for JPG. AVIF at 50–65 typically looks like JPG at 80–85, and pushing to 90 or above gives up most of the size advantage for detail nobody sees. For logos, screenshots and line art, PNG or lossless WebP is usually the better choice than AVIF at any setting. ### Can everyone see an AVIF image? Every current browser can decode AVIF — Chrome since 85, Firefox since 93, Safari since 16.4. What is not guaranteed is everything else: older phones, email clients, desktop image viewers, and design and office software still commonly refuse it. Serving AVIF from a element with a JPG or WebP fallback is the safe pattern on the web. ### How do I open an AVIF file I was sent? Convert it here: add the file, choose PNG or JPG and press Run. Your browser already has the decoder, so the conversion happens on your device without an upload. That is usually quicker than installing a codec pack for the program that refused the file. ### Does converting to AVIF keep transparency? Yes. AVIF supports a full alpha channel, so a transparent PNG converts without a background being baked in. Converting to JPG is the case that cannot keep it — JPG has no alpha channel at all, so transparent areas are flattened onto the background colour you pick. ### Is EXIF metadata preserved? No. The image is decoded to pixels on a canvas and re-encoded, which drops EXIF, ICC profiles and any other metadata. That is a privacy benefit when you are publishing a photo — GPS coordinates and camera serial numbers do not survive — and a loss if you were relying on the colour profile. ## Sources - [AV1 Image File Format (AVIF) specification](https://aomediacodec.github.io/av1-avif/) — Alliance for Open Media - [AV1 Bitstream & Decoding Process Specification](https://aomediacodec.github.io/av1-spec/) — Alliance for Open Media - [HTMLCanvasElement.toBlob() — image type fallback](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/HTMLCanvasElement/toBlob) — MDN - [AVIF browser support](https://caniuse.com/avif) — Can I use ## Related tools - [Image Converter](https://convertto.tech/t/image-converter): Convert images between PNG, JPG, WebP and AVIF without uploading them anywhere. - [Paste Image and Download](https://convertto.tech/t/paste-image-to-png): Press Ctrl+V to paste a screenshot or copied image, then download it as a real file. 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