How To Use Avif Image Coding

By Author: Himanshu Goyal
Total Articles: 4
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The AV1 image format or AVIF is the most recent image codec available. AVIF is an optimized format for images. It was designed to reduce the size of our images while maintaining the same quality (lossless). AVIF's file extension is .avif.

What is AVIF? How does it work?
AVIF is an extract from the keyframes for the popular video format AV1 created by Alliance for Open Media.

AOM created AVIF to provide royalty-free images that are more efficient in compression and have more support than the other image formats.

AVIF has now been supported by big companies such as Google, Netflix, Apple, and Amazon.

Why is AVIF better?
AVIF, like its predecessors WebP, JPEG-XR, and JPEG2000, is compatible with high-dynamic-range imagery. Images can be created with AVIF that supports 10- or 12-bit color at full resolution. This allows for images that are 10 times smaller than any other formats.

AVIF is a great choice for web developers, because:
It is free from any royalties, so you don't have to worry about licensing.
It is supported by major tech companies like Google, Amazon, and Netflix.
...
... It offers the highest compression.
You will find more modern features like HDR, transparency, and a wide color gamut.

AVIF BENEFITS
AVIF supports lossy and lossless compression for high-quality images. AVIF compresses better than many popular formats (JPEG 2000, WebP, JPEG 2000, and so forth). Images can be ten times smaller than JPEGs with similar visual quality. According to some tests, AVIF can save 50% on file size compared with JPEGs of similar visual quality. WebP lossless may be more efficient than AVIF lossless in certain cases, so make sure you manually evaluate.

AVIF offers superior compression and the following features:
AVIF supports live photos, animations, and other multimedia using multilayer images stored within image sequences.
It provides better support for logos and graphical elements than JPEG, which has its limitations.
It offers better lossless compression than JPEG.
It supports twelve bits color depths, allowing high dynamic range (HDR), wide color gamut images (WCG), and images with better ranges of bright and darker tones as well as a wider range of luminosity.
It supports monochrome images as well as multichannel images. Transparent images can also be supported using the alpha channel.

AVIF AND PERFORMANCE
AVIF files can be compressed to reduce their file size. AVIF files are faster to download and use less bandwidth. This could improve performance by decreasing the loading time of images.

The Lighthouse-best practice audit now recognizes that AVIF compression can make a significant difference. It gathers all BMP, JPEG, and PNG images, converts them into WebP and estimates the AVIF size. This allows Lighthouse to report on the possible savings in the section "Serve images next-gen formats".

Why is AVIF superior to other compression codecs?
These are some of the features that make AVIF more valuable than its competitors:
AVIF supports High Dynamic Range, which allows for brighter and better images.
AVIF can support both lossless and lossy decomposition.
AVIF has an alpha channel (refer to chroma subsampling), which adds a richer look to the images.
AVIF offers color depths of 8, 10, and 12 bits.
AVIF supports 4;2:0,4:2:2, and 4:4:4 chroma sampling, among others
AVIF offers the most compression in a royalty-free format.

These are the advantages of AVIF, but there is one problem: it's not widely available on the market. AVIF, a relatively new image format, is still not supported by most browsers. The primary medium for most images we see every day is the browser. Browser compatibility is essential i.e why you need to know how to use avif for image coding.

Wrapping up
AVIF is a game-changer and will soon be the de facto standard for image formats. It is expected that AVIF will soon be fully supported on all platforms due to its potential features.

AVIF is a different project than Google's WebP image. It took Apple 10 years to support. AVIF attracted Apple's attention quickly and they now contribute to the project.

I am Digital Marketing Executive.