If you’ve saved an image from the web lately, you might have noticed a new format called AVIF. This format is gaining popularity online and has the potential to eventually replace the longstanding JPEG format. For the past 30 years, JPEG images have dominated the web, while PNG is widely used for graphics and logos. However, when it comes to sharing photos online, JPEG remains the go-to format, with over three-quarters of websites utilizing it, as reported by the Web Technology Surveys site.
Nonetheless, the aging JPEG format poses a significant issue—it doesn't compress images as efficiently as it could. This results in larger file sizes for image-heavy web pages, leading to slower loading times. Slow-loading pages can negatively impact search rankings, as search engines like Google prioritize fast page load times.
Over the years, various alternatives to JPEG have emerged, including Google's WebP format, which is now used by approximately one out of ten websites. However, the AVIF format is gaining traction and receiving support from major players like Netflix.
AVIF is an open-source image format, meaning it is not owned by a single company, and there are no royalties associated with its usage. The specification for AVIF was finalized in 2019, but it has taken some time for the format to gain widespread support. While Google Chrome added support for AVIF in August 2020, Microsoft Edge only recently joined in, becoming the final major browser to accept AVIF images. This is crucial for web developers because ensuring that all major web browsers correctly render AVIF images is vital when considering a format change for a website's images.
Major image editing applications have also gradually embraced AVIF over the past few years. Some, like Paint.net, added support as early as 2019, shortly after the AVIF specification was finalized. However, industry giants like Adobe Lightroom only incorporated support in October of last year. With the backing of major operating systems, browsers, and photo editing apps, AVIF has cleared any obstacles in its path.
The primary advantage of AVIF lies in its superior compression capabilities. It delivers clearer images at significantly smaller file sizes compared to JPEG. Netflix demonstrated this three years ago when its technical team published an article showcasing heavily compressed AVIF images that outperformed similarly sized JPEGs in terms of quality. In promotional images of its boxsets, the AVIF images, compressed to around 80,000 bytes (0.08MB), remained visually close to the high-quality originals. In contrast, the compressed JPEGs exhibited color banding and loss of detail, making them unsuitable for use at that size.
According to the Netflix team, “We need an alternative to JPEG that a) is widely supported, b) has better compression efficiency, and c) has a wider feature set... We believe AV1 Image File Format (AVIF) has the potential.” Now, with widespread support from major stakeholders, AVIF is poised to revolutionize image delivery on the web. The result: snappier website loading times and high-quality images.
So, the next time you come across websites that load quickly and showcase stunning images, you can attribute it to the rise of AVIF as the new standard in image format on the web.
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