.AVIF File Extension

AVIF Image

Developer	Alliance for Open Media
Popularity	3.3 \| 119 Votes

What is an AVIF file?

An AVIF file is an image saved in the AV1 Image File Format, which uses AV1-based compression to store still images and image sequences. AVIF serves as a modern alternative to formats such as .JPEG, .PNG, and .WEBP, offering efficient compression while maintaining image quality. The format stores image data inside a HEIF-based container, which supports features such as color management, metadata, and multi-image storage.

More Information

Screenshot of a .avif file in Microsoft Photos — AVIF file open in Microsoft Photos

The Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia) developed the AVIF format. AOMedia is a non-profit consortium formed in 2015 by companies including Amazon, Cisco, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Mozilla, and Netflix.

The group created the AV1 video codec and later applied the same compression technology to images stored in the HEIF container. This approach enables AVIF to deliver high-quality images at smaller sizes than many traditional formats.

AVIF supports lossless and lossy compression, high dynamic range (HDR) images, monochrome images, and color depths up to 12 bits. The format can also store animations, similar to .GIF files, by including multiple frames and timing information within a single file. Because of these capabilities, AVIF has gained adoption in web browsers, mobile operating systems, and media applications.

How to open an AVIF file

You can open AVIF files with most modern web browsers, including Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, and in applications that support the format, such as recent versions of Adobe Photoshop, GIMP (with plugins), Windows apps with the AV1 and HEIF extensions installed, and various third-party image viewers. Advanced users can also use the open-source libavif library to encode and decode AVIF images.

How to convert an AVIF file

With both the AV1 Video Extension and HEIF Image Extensions installed, Windows users can use Microsoft Paint to open AVIF images and convert them to the following formats: