What Is an AVIF File? How to Open It and Convert It to JPG
AVIF is an image format built on the AV1 video codec. What it is, which browsers and apps open it, and how to turn an .avif file into a JPG for free.
By The CrayonPix team ·· 5 min read
An AVIF file (AV1 Image File Format, extension .avif) is an image compressed with the AV1 video codec and stored in the same HEIF container family that iPhones use for photos. It was published by the Alliance for Open Media in 2019 and is now used by many websites, because an AVIF image is much smaller than a JPG of similar quality. It also supports transparency, HDR, wide color and animation.
If an .avif file won’t open on your computer, the quickest fix is to convert it: drop it on AVIF to JPG, click Download, and you get an ordinary JPG that opens in every app. The conversion runs in your browser, so the image is not uploaded anywhere. The rest of this guide explains where AVIF comes from, which software reads it, and when to keep it or convert it.
Where AVIF comes from: AV1 and AOMedia
AVIF is a by-product of online video. In 2015, a group of technology companies including Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, Amazon and Netflix founded the Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia) to build a royalty-free video codec. The result, AV1, was published in 2018, and it is now used to stream video on large platforms.
A video codec is very good at compressing a single frame, so AOMedia defined a way to store one AV1-compressed frame as a picture. That is AVIF. According to AOMedia’s own account, the first version of the format was finalized in 2019, and version 1.1 (2022) added HDR properties. The specification is public on the AOMedia GitHub site.
The container is the interesting part: AVIF uses HEIF, the same container as Apple’s HEIC photos. The difference is the codec inside. HEIC holds an HEVC (H.265) image, which is covered by patent licensing; AVIF holds an AV1 image, which is royalty-free. That is why browser makers adopted AVIF widely while HEIC stayed mostly an Apple format. Our HEIC vs JPG guide covers the iPhone side.
What AVIF is good at
| Feature | AVIF | JPG | WebP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lossy compression | Yes, very efficient | Yes | Yes |
| Lossless mode | Yes | No | Yes |
| Transparency | Yes | No | Yes |
| HDR and 10/12-bit color | Yes | No (8-bit) | No (8-bit) |
| Animation | Yes | No | Yes |
| Opens in every app | Not yet | Yes | Most |
On file size, MDN’s image format guide reports that lossy AVIF images are around 50% smaller than JPEG images, and that AVIF generally compresses better than WebP. Real savings depend on the picture and on the encoder settings, but the gap is large enough that image-heavy sites switched to it once browsers caught up.
The trade-off is encoding speed: AVIF takes more computing power to create than JPG or WebP. Sites usually generate it once on the server or through an image CDN, which is also why you rarely meet AVIF outside the web.
Browser support timeline
AVIF arrived in browsers gradually between 2020 and 2024. The versions below come from caniuse, MDN and Apple’s WebKit release notes:
| Browser | AVIF support since | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Chrome | 85 (August 2020) | Also Chrome for Android and Opera 71 |
| Firefox | 93 (October 2021) | Animated AVIF from Firefox 113 |
| Safari on iPhone and iPad | iOS 16 (2022) | Uses the system’s image frameworks |
| Safari on Mac | 16 on macOS Ventura; 16.4 (2023) on Monterey and Big Sur | Animated AVIF added in Safari 16.1 |
| Edge | 121 (January 2024) | Earlier versions had it disabled or missing |
Every current browser now displays AVIF. That is why a website can safely send it: browsers announce in each image request which formats they accept, and the server picks the best one. The same mechanism explains why images often save as WebP; see why do images save as WebP for how that negotiation works.
How to open an AVIF file on Windows and Mac
In any browser. The simplest viewer is the browser you already have. Drag the .avif file into a Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari window and it opens.
On Windows 10 and 11. The Photos and Paint apps need Microsoft’s free AV1 Video Extension from the Microsoft Store to read AVIF. Once it is installed, AVIF files open in Photos. Thumbnails in File Explorer depend on your Windows version and installed extensions, so you may still see a generic icon. Free editors such as GIMP and Paint.NET can also open AVIF.
On Mac. On macOS Ventura (13) and later, AVIF is decoded by the operating system’s image frameworks, the same ones Safari uses according to WebKit’s bug tracker, so Preview and Quick Look can show AVIF images. On older macOS versions, Safari 16.4 or later displays AVIF in the browser, but other apps may not.
On iPhone and Android. iOS 16 and later can display AVIF in Safari. Android gallery apps vary; when one refuses a file, open it in Chrome or convert it.
Where it still fails. Older versions of Office, many upload forms, print kiosks, email clients and photo printing services expect JPG or PNG. That is the main reason people search for what an AVIF file is in the first place.
How to convert AVIF to JPG
- Open AVIF to JPG in any current browser.
- Choose or drop one or more
.aviffiles. - Keep the default 92% quality for photos, or lower it for smaller files.
- If the image has transparency (a logo or a sticker), pick the background color that will fill it, since JPG cannot store transparency. White is the default.
- Click Download. One file gives you a JPG; several files come back as a ZIP.
The tool uses your browser’s own AVIF decoder and JPG encoder. The JPG keeps the full width and height of the original. Only the first frame of an animated AVIF is converted, and HDR images are saved as standard 8-bit sRGB, so very bright highlights can look a little flatter. Because the image is redrawn from pixels, metadata such as GPS location is not copied; our guide on removing EXIF data explains why that matters.
For an AVIF with transparency that you want to keep, convert it to PNG instead. For WebP files, WebP to JPG works the same way.
Should you keep AVIF, or use something else?
- Keep AVIF if you received it from a website and only need to look at it, or if you publish images and your platform already serves AVIF.
- Convert to JPG to email, print, edit in older software or upload to a form that rejects AVIF.
- Making images for your own site? CrayonPix does not create AVIF files: browsers can decode AVIF but don’t offer a built-in AVIF encoder to web pages. For lighter website images, JPG to WebP converts JPG and PNG to WebP in your browser, a format every current browser displays.
In short, AVIF is a web delivery format. It is excellent at making pages load faster, and less convenient once the image leaves the browser, which is when a one-click conversion to JPG helps.
Frequently asked questions
What is an AVIF file?
An AVIF file is a still image (or a short animation) compressed with the AV1 video codec and stored in a HEIF container. It was created by the Alliance for Open Media and is mainly used by websites because the files are small.
Is AVIF better than JPG?
For publishing on the web, usually yes. AVIF files are much smaller at similar quality and support transparency and HDR. For sharing, printing and editing, JPG is still safer because every app and device opens it.
How do I open an AVIF file on Windows?
Open it in Chrome, Edge or Firefox, or install Microsoft's free AV1 Video Extension from the Microsoft Store so that Photos and Paint can read it. Converting it to JPG avoids installing anything.
Can a Mac open AVIF files?
Yes, on macOS Ventura and later the system image frameworks decode AVIF, so Safari and Preview can show it. On older versions of macOS, Safari 16.4 or later can display AVIF in the browser.
Why did my downloaded image save as AVIF?
Many websites and image CDNs send AVIF to browsers that announce support for it. When you save the image, your browser keeps the file exactly as it received it, so you get a .avif file.