AVIF: image format with more than one quality setting

Useful to know

When a site publishes many images, the size of the files becomes part of the work of the entire product. AVIF is a format that uses technologies related to AV1, to represent graphical content. Alliance for Open Media describes support for lossless compression, transparency, and animation. [1] This brings together different capabilities in a single format system. However, the extension itself is not a complete description of the file: settings when created continue to matter for the final result.

In loss mode, the information can be changed to obtain a smaller volume. In lossless mode, the goal is to restore the saved image without such a change. AOMedia also indicates capabilities for high dynamic range and wide color gamut. [1] These are features of the shape, not a promise that every small picture necessarily uses them. It is necessary to know what source material was submitted and with what settings the particular variant was recorded.

In the MDN AVIF guide it is described with the media type image/avif and applicability for both images and animated sequences. The importance of backup formats in serving different browsers has also been emphasized. [2] For a site with a diverse audience, it is useful to think about the entire selection and display process. Generating a file is a first step; after that comes the question of whether the visitor receives a suitable version and whether the page remains usable under different client capabilities.

Web image formats have different strengths. Separate assignments for JPEG, PNG, WebP and AVIF. [2] can be seen in the same reference book. A picture with smooth tones, a scheme with small inscriptions and a transparent icon may require different judgment. The advertising comparison of one set of images should not become a universal percentage for each future file without checking its own content.

A good teaching example is a photograph recorded with several settings. Not only bytes are compared, but also faces, fine surfaces and sections with a gradual change of color. Then the same is done at the actual display size in the page. This makes it clear whether the saved volume is useful for the specific use. The smallest option is not automatically the best if it removes a detail that is essential to understanding the image or looks unpleasant to the reader.

For maintenance, it is important that the settings are repeatable and that the original can serve as a new conversion. When changing visual requirements, this allows to generate another variant without accumulation of successive compressions. The selection of AVIF makes sense as part of a measured process: appropriate source, verified quality, compatible delivery and final result monitoring. Thus, the new format is evaluated by its actual work on the site, and not only by the name in the list of supported technologies.