AVIF explained

AV1 Image File Format (AVIF)
Extension:	.avif, .avifs
Mime:	image/avif
Developer:	Alliance for Open Media
Released:	v1.0.0 19 February 2019
Latest Release Version:	v1.1.0
Open:	Yes
Latest Release Date:	15 April 2022
Contained By:	HEIF
Extended From:	HEIF, ISOBMFF, AV1

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] a similar level of support as for WebP it was made to replace).

Features

The AV1 Image File Format supports:

• Multiple color spaces, including:
  • HDR (with PQ^[5] or HLG transfer functions and BT.2020 color primaries, as part of BT.2100)
  • SDR (with sRGB / BT.709 / BT.601 or with wide color gamut)
  • Color space signaling via CICP (ITU-T H.273 and ISO/IEC 23091-2) or ICC profiles
• Lossless compression and lossy compression
• 8-, 10-, and 12-bit color depths^[6]
• Monochrome (alpha/depth) or multi-components
• 4:2:0, 4:2:2, 4:4:4 chroma subsampling and RGB
• Film grain synthesis^[7]
• Image sequences/animation

Profiles

AVIF specification defines two image profiles:

• AVIF Baseline Profile
  • Uses AV1 Main Profile
  • AV1 level is 5.1 or lower
    • 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.

libavif
Developer:	Alliance for Open Media
Latest Release Version:	1.0.4
Operating System:	cross-platform
License:	BSD 2-Clause License (free software)

Web browsers

• 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]

Image viewers

• XnView
• gThumb
• Eye of GNOME
• GNOME's Loupe^[16]
• ImageMagick^[17]
• IrfanView (read only)^[18]
• Gwenview^[19]
• digiKam 7.7.0^[20]
• Preview and Photos apps on iOS 16, iPadOS 16 and macOS 13.
• ImageGlass (read+write)^[21]

Media players

• VLC will read AVIF files starting with version 4, which is still in development.^[22]

Image editors

• Paint.net added support for opening AVIF files in September 2019,^[23] and the ability to save AVIF format images in an August 2020 update.^[24]
• The Colorist format conversion and Darktable RAW image data have each released support for and provide reference implementations of libavif.
• GIMP added Native AVIF import and export in October 2020.^[25]
• IrfanView 4.57, released on 13 January 2021, added read-only AVIF support via its plugins.^{[26] [27] [28]}
• Krita 5.0, released on 23 December 2021, added AVIF support. The support also includes Rec.2100 HDR AVIF images.^{[29] [30]}
• Adobe Illustrator (May 2022 release) added AVIF support.^[31]
• Pixelmator Pro 3.1, released on 2 November 2022, added initial AVIF support.^[32]
• Adobe Lightroom 7.0 (October 2023 release) and Lightroom Classic 13 (October 2023 release) added HDR capabilities, including opening and saving photos in AVIF format.^{[33] [34]}
• PhotoLine 24, released 30 June 2023, added AVIF support.

Image libraries

• libavif – portable library for encoding and decoding AVIF files.
• libheif – ISO/IEC 23008-12:2017 HEIF and AVIF decoder and encoder.
• SAIL – format-agnostic library with support of AVIF implemented on top of libavif.
• FFmpeg

Operating systems

• 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.^[35]
• 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.^[36] 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.^[37] 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.^[38]
• Vimeo announced AVIF support in a blog post on 3 June 2021.^[39]
• Joomla 5 includes AVIF support.^[40]
• WordPress 6.5 added AVIF support.^[41]

Programming languages

• PHP has had AVIF support in its GD extension since PHP version 8.1.^[42]
• Perl has support via the Imager library suite^[43]

Others

• ExifTool has supported AVIF format for reading and writing EXIF since version 11.79 (released 12 December 2019).

Notes and References

1. Web site: AV1 Image File Format (AVIF) . AOMediaCodec.GitHub.io . 25 November 2018 . 29 November 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181129220820/https://aomediacodec.github.io/av1-avif/ . live .
2. Web site: AVIF: Meet the Next Level Image File Format | Alliance for Open Media.
3. Web site: Mavlankar . Aditya . De Cock . Jan . Concolato . Cyril . Swanson . Kyle . Moorthy . Anush . Aaron . Anne . 13 February 2020 . AVIF for Next-Generation Image Coding . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20200215085057/https://netflixtechblog.com/avif-for-next-generation-image-coding-b1d75675fe4 . 15 February 2020 . 19 November 2021 . The Netflix Tech Blog .
4. Web site: AVIF image format Can I use... Support tables for HTML5, CSS3, etc . 2024-04-13 . caniuse.com.
5. Web site: av1-avif/testFiles/Netflix/avif/README.md at master · joedrago/av1-avif . 5 July 2023 . GitHub . en.
6. Web site: AV1 Image File Format (AVIF). Concolato. Cyril. 14 October 2019. AOMedia. 6 November 2019. 5 November 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191105234416/https://aomedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/CyrilConcolato_Netflix-AVIF-AOM-Research-Symposium-2019.pdf. live.
7. Web site: Film Grain Synthesis for AV1 Video Codec. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20210107211614/https://norkin.org/pdf/DCC_2018_AV1_film_grain.pdf. 7 January 2021. 14 December 2020. en.
8. Web site: Netflix AV1 Encodes Readme . 23 May 2020 . 20 February 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200220095254/http://download.opencontent.netflix.com.s3.amazonaws.com/AV1/readme.txt . live.
9. Web site: Abrams. Lawrence. 25 August 2020. Chrome 85 released with security fixes, app shortcuts, AVIF support. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20200826070626/https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/google/chrome-85-released-with-security-fixes-app-shortcuts-avif-support/. 26 August 2020. 26 August 2020. Bleeping Computer.
10. Web site: Chrome 89 Beta: Advanced Hardware Interactions, Web Sharing on Desktop, and More. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20210129081734/https://blog.chromium.org/2021/01/chrome-89-beta-advanced-hardware.html. 29 January 2021. 29 January 2021.
11. Web site: Firefox 93.0, See All New Features, Updates and Fixes. 5 October 2021. Mozilla. en.
12. Web site: WebKit Features in Safari 16.0 . 12 September 2022 .
13. Web site: MacOS Ventura is now available.
14. Web site: Safari 16.4 Beta Release Notes.
15. Web site: dan-wesley . 26 January 2024 . Microsoft Edge release notes for Stable Channel . 27 January 2024 . learn.microsoft.com . en-us.
16. Web site: README.md · main · GNOME / Loupe · GitLab . gitlab.gnome.org. 22 December 2023 .
17. Web site: ImageMagick AVIF support. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20210909143936/https://github.com/ImageMagick/ImageMagick/issues/1432. 9 September 2021. 9 September 2021. Github. ImageMagick.
18. Web site: IrfanView AVIF support. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20210724085643/https://www.irfanview.com/main_formats.htm. 24 July 2021. 9 September 2021. IrfanView. irfanview.
19. Web site: 416941 – AVIF image support . 12 June 2022 . bugs.kde.org.
20. Web site: DigiKam 7.7.0 is Released . 26 June 2022 .
21. Web site: ImageGlass AVIF support. 2024-05-04.
22. Web site: no display of .avif files with dav1d decoder (#21568) · Issues · VideoLAN / VLC. 8 October 2021. GitLab. 17 December 2018 . en.
23. Web site: paint.net 4.2.2 is now available!. 18 September 2019. paint.net blog . 12 October 2019. 27 September 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190927121449/https://blog.getpaint.net/2019/09/18/paint-net-4-2-2-is-now-available/. live.
24. Web site: 25 August 2020. paint.net 4.2.14 alpha build 7542. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20201001045558/https://blog.getpaint.net/2020/08/25/paint-net-4-2-14-alpha-build-7542/. 1 October 2020. 26 August 2020.
25. Web site: 7 October 2020 . GIMP 2.10.22 Released . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20201008144013/https://www.gimp.org/news/2020/10/07/gimp-2-10-22-released/ . 8 October 2020 . 14 October 2020 . GIMP.org .
26. Web site: History of IrfanView Changes/Versions (for version 4.57, lists release date of January 13, 2021, and doesn't mention AVIF but says there were numerous changes not mentioned and suggests looking at plugins page for more info). 14 January 2021. 9 September 2023. 14 January 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210114060228/https://www.irfanview.com/main_history.htm. bot: unknown.
27. Web site: IrfanView Plugins 4.56 (AVIF not mentioned as supported anywhere). 10 January 2021. 9 September 2023. 10 January 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210110023217/https://www.irfanview.com/plugins.htm. bot: unknown.
28. Web site: IrfanView Plugins 4.57 (AVIF explicitly mentioned as supported). 18 January 2021. 9 September 2023. 18 January 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210118060407/https://www.irfanview.com/plugins.htm. bot: unknown.
29. Web site: Krita 5.0 released!. 23 December 2021.
30. Web site: Krita 5.0 Release Notes. Krita. Foundation.
31. Web site: Feature summary – Illustrator (May 2022 release) . 28 July 2022 . 11 May 2022 . 25 September 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220925173156/https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/whats-new/2022-3.html . live .
32. Web site: Pixelmator Pro 3.1 adds support for macOS 13, AVIF images, introduces smooth corner style, and more .
33. Web site: HDR Optimization . Adobe Inc..
34. Web site: Edit and Export in HDR . Adobe Inc..
35. Web site: Dave . Burke . Android 12 Is Live in AOSP! . Android-Developers.GoogleBlog.com . 4 October 2021 . 26 December 2022 .
36. Web site: Add a gdk-pixbuf Module by Linkmauve . GitHub.
37. Web site: KDE Ships Frameworks 5.78.0 . KDE.org . 9 January 2021 .
38. Web site: 3 October 2020 . AVIF image format supported by Cloudflare Image Resizing . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20201003135712/https://blog.cloudflare.com/generate-avif-images-with-image-resizing/ . 3 October 2020 . 3 October 2020 . The Cloudflare Blog .
39. Web site: Upgrading Images on Vimeo . 2 June 2021 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210603150425/https://medium.com/vimeo-engineering-blog/upgrading-images-on-vimeo-620f79da8605 . 3 June 2021 . 3 June 2021.
40. Web site: Joomla! Issue Tracker | Joomla! CMS #41381 - [5.0] AVIF support for media manager]. Joomla! Issue Tracker.
41. Web site: WordPress 6.5 adds AVIF support. 23 February 2024.
42. Web site: 14 June 2021 . PHP 8.1: GD: AVIF image support . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210614080825/https://php.watch/versions/8.1/gd-avif . 14 June 2021 . 14 June 2021 . PHP.Watch.
43. Web site: 11 July 2023. Perl: Imager support .