AVIF vs WebP: Which Modern Image Format Should You Use?

For years the web optimized images with JPEG and PNG, then WebP came along and made both look wasteful. Now AVIF promises to make WebP look wasteful too. So which one should you actually use in 2026? The honest answer: it depends on who views your images and what you're willing to trade.

The two candidates

WebP is Google's image format, released in 2010 and broadly supported since around 2020. It does everything older formats do — lossy and lossless compression, transparency, animation — at a fraction of the file size.

AVIF is the image format of the AV1 video codec, finalized in 2019 and supported by every major browser since 2022. It uses much more sophisticated encoding, which is why it routinely beats WebP on file size. It also supports HDR, 10-bit color, and wide color gamuts — features WebP can't touch.

The practical difference comes down to two things: how much smaller AVIF files are, and how much friction you're willing to accept.

Side by side

	WebP	AVIF
First released	2010	2019
Compression	Lossy + lossless	Lossy + lossless
Transparency	Yes	Yes
Animation	Yes	Yes (AV1 sequence)
HDR / 10-bit color	No	Yes
Typical size vs JPEG	25–35% smaller	50–60% smaller
Browser support	Every modern browser (since ~2020)	Every modern browser (since ~2022)
Editing tool support	Excellent	Growing, still patchy
OS support	Native in Windows/macOS	Native in Windows/macOS/iOS 16+

The file size numbers, concretely

A single test image tells the story better than any claim. Here's a typical 1600 px photo hero:

Format	File size	vs JPEG
JPEG quality 80	680 KB	baseline
WebP quality 78	460 KB	−32%
AVIF quality 70	330 KB	−51%
AVIF quality 60	240 KB	−65%

On a page with ten such images, choosing AVIF over WebP saves roughly 1–2 MB of transfer — which is the difference between a page that feels instant and one that stalls on a phone. But notice the quality numbers: AVIF at a lower quality setting matches or beats WebP at a higher one, because its encoder is simply better at spending the bits it's given.

Where AVIF stumbles

If AVIF is this good, why isn't everything already using it? Three reasons:

• Encoding is slow. Creating an AVIF takes noticeably longer than a WebP or JPEG — often several seconds per image for large files. For a personal site with 20 images, fine. For a pipeline re-encoding 100,000 product photos, it's a real cost.
• Tooling is patchy. Some editors, CMS upload handlers, and CDN image processors added AVIF support late or not at all. A file you create today may need conversion before a specific platform accepts it.
• Older hardware struggles to decode. AVIF's complex encoding costs CPU on the viewing side too. On a modern phone it's instant; on a 2015 laptop, a page full of AVIF can lag. WebP decodes much more cheaply.

None of these are show-stoppers for most sites. But they're the reason the practical answer for 2026 is still WebP-first, with AVIF as an upgrade where the pipeline supports it.

Browser and OS support in practice

Viewer	WebP	AVIF
Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari (recent)	Yes	Yes
Safari before 16	Yes	No
Android stock browser	Yes	Yes
Windows Photo Viewer (old)	No	No
macOS Preview (recent)	Yes	Yes
iOS 15 and older	Yes	No

Since 2022, every major browser on every major platform ships AVIF — including Safari 16+ and iOS 16+. The remaining gaps are old operating systems and specific apps, not the browsing web.

When to use which

Choose WebP when:

• Compatibility with older browsers, email clients, or third-party platforms matters
• Your image pipeline (editor, CMS, CDN) doesn't produce AVIF yet
• Encoding speed matters more than a few extra percent
• You need a format that exports identically from every tool

Choose AVIF when:

• Your audience is on modern browsers (effectively everyone by 2026)
• Every kilobyte matters — hero images, above-the-fold content, image-heavy pages
• You're building the pipeline yourself and can afford the encode time
• You want HDR or 10-bit color that WebP can't deliver

The practical migration path

You don't have to pick one. The robust pattern is the same one the web used for JPEG→WebP:

1. Keep a WebP (or JPG) master that everything can read
2. Generate AVIF copies for browsers that support it
3. Serve the best format via <picture> or content negotiation, with a fallback for older viewers

When that's too much machinery, serve WebP. The 25–35% gain from WebP is already most of the benefit; AVIF's extra 20–30% is a refinement, not a requirement.

Encoding settings worth knowing

Both formats expose a quality slider, but they behave differently:

• WebP: quality 70–80 is the sweet spot for photos; quality 90+ is rarely worth the bytes
• AVIF: quality 50–70 already looks excellent — the encoder is efficient enough that lower settings are usually fine, and the savings are where you want them
• Lossless mode exists in both for graphics with sharp edges, though AVIF lossless encoding is slow enough that many people use WebP-lossless for that niche instead

If you're unsure where to start, encode one image in both formats, open them side by side at 100%, and take the smaller file that still looks identical.

Frequently asked questions

Is AVIF always smaller than WebP?

Almost always, yes — typically 20–50% smaller at the same visual quality, and the gap widens on photos. For flat graphics with sharp edges the difference shrinks, and lossless AVIF and lossless WebP are closer.

Does AVIF support transparency like PNG?

Yes. AVIF supports full alpha transparency, and it does so at a fraction of the file size of PNG — which is why it's attractive for web graphics as well as photos.

Can I use AVIF for print?

No. Print workflows expect PNG, TIFF, or PDF. AVIF is a web-first format; export raster formats for anything that goes to paper.

Why is saving my AVIF so slow?

AVIF encoding is computationally expensive by design — that's how it achieves its small files. Accept slower saves, or use WebP where speed matters more than size.

Should I replace all my WebP with AVIF?

Not necessarily. If your stack handles AVIF cleanly and your audience is modern, the size win is real. If any link in the chain (CMS, CDN, third-party platform) is unsure, WebP is the safe default — you lose little by staying on it.

Want the whole landscape? The image formats guide explains JPEG, PNG, WebP, HEIC, and SVG, and the WebP vs PNG guide covers the older matchup in depth.

The bottom line

WebP is the practical choice for today's web; AVIF is the smaller, more future-proof upgrade where your pipeline supports it. Start with WebP, add AVIF where it pays for itself, and let the Image Converter handle the JPG/PNG/WebP side of the workflow — free, private, and in your browser.