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

File size and quality

Both formats leave JPG behind, but AVIF usually edges out WebP on raw efficiency. At comparable quality, WebP is roughly 25–35% smaller than JPG, while AVIF often reaches 50% smaller or more. AVIF is especially strong on dark scenes, smooth gradients and skies, where JPG (and to a lesser extent WebP) can show visible banding — AVIF holds those subtle transitions cleanly. It also supports higher dynamic range and wider colour gamuts, useful for modern displays.

That said, the difference between WebP and AVIF is often modest for typical photos, and at very high quality settings the gap narrows further. For most images, either format is a large improvement over JPG; AVIF simply squeezes a little more, most visibly in the hardest cases.

Browser and software support

WebP has a head start on maturity. It has been supported in every major browser for years and is widely accepted by content management systems, social platforms and image tools — it is now safely universal on the web. AVIF is supported in all current browsers too, but because it is newer, it is more likely to trip up older browser versions, older phones, desktop image viewers and non-web software that has not caught up.

Outside the browser, both can still surprise people: a WebP or AVIF downloaded and opened in an older desktop program may refuse to load. This is the same caution that always applies to modern formats — they are great for publishing to the web, but a JPG or PNG is safer when handing a file to someone to open, edit or print outside a browser.

Encoding speed and practicality

AVIF's extra efficiency comes at a cost: encoding an AVIF is more computationally intensive and slower than encoding a WebP or JPG. On a web server compressing images ahead of time this is invisible, but if you are batch-converting a large library on your own machine, WebP will finish noticeably faster. WebP also has more mature, widely-integrated tooling simply because it has been around longer.

For a workflow that converts many images regularly, WebP's speed and ubiquity can outweigh AVIF's smaller files. For a smaller number of important images where every kilobyte counts, AVIF's extra compression is worth the slower encode.

Which to choose — and how to convert

A practical rule: use WebP as your safe modern default — it is universal, fast and a big win over JPG. Reach for AVIF when you want maximum efficiency and best quality in tricky images, ideally serving it with a WebP or JPG fallback for older visitors. And keep JPG or PNG for any file that must open absolutely everywhere outside a browser. To convert your JPGs and PNGs into either format, or to turn a WebP or AVIF back into a universally-openable JPG or PNG, an image converter does the job. OfficePad's runs entirely in your browser, so images are never uploaded.

Frequently asked questions