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Convert HEIF to AVIF Online Free — Fast Batch Conversion
How to Convert Images Online
1Upload your HEIF file
Drag and drop your .heif, .heic, or .HIF file. Batch upload supported.
2Convert to AVIF
Convertify decodes the HEIF container and encodes AV1. AVIF encoding is slower than JPEG — allow 2-10 seconds per image.
3Download AVIF
Download your AVIF file and deploy to your website, CDN, or CMS.
Supported Image Formats
HEIF
High Efficiency Image Format — same as HEIC, used on Apple devices.
AVIF
Next-gen format with excellent compression. Up to 50% smaller than JPG.
HEIC
Apple photo format used by iPhone and iPad. High quality with small file size.
WebP
Modern image format by Google. Up to 30% smaller than JPG with the same quality.
PNG
Lossless format that preserves every pixel. Best for screenshots and logos.
JPG
Universal format for photos. Supported everywhere, great balance between quality and file size.
GIF
Classic format for simple animations. Supports transparency and up to 256 colors.
BMP
Uncompressed bitmap format. Maximum quality but very large file size.
TIFF
Professional lossless format used in printing and photography.
PPM
Portable Pixmap format used in Unix/Linux environments.
HDR
High Dynamic Range format storing extended brightness data.
FITS
Flexible Image Transport System used in astronomy and science.
PDF
Portable Document Format. Convert PDF pages to JPG, PNG or WebP images.
AVIF vs WebP vs HEIC vs JPG
Quick comparison to help you choose the right format
AVIF
- Size: Up to 50% smaller than JPG
- Browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Safari
- Transparency: ✓
- Best for: Web performance
WebP
- Size: 25-35% smaller than JPG
- Browsers: All modern browsers
- Transparency: ✓
- Best for: Web compatibility
HEIC
- Size: ~50% smaller than JPG
- Browsers: Safari only
- Transparency: ✓
- Best for: iPhone storage
JPG
- Size: Baseline
- Browsers: All browsers & apps
- Transparency: ✗
- Best for: Universal sharing
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is AVIF?
- AVIF (AV1 Image File Format) is a HEIF-conformant image container carrying an AV1-encoded payload. AV1 is royalty-free under the Alliance for Open Media. AVIF offers compression efficiency similar to HEVC (the codec inside HEIC) with full browser support, since AV1's royalty-free licensing allows Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge to implement it without patent risk.
- Is AVIF better than HEIF for web use?
- Yes, decisively. HEIF has 0% browser support; AVIF has approximately 93-95% browser support. Both offer similar compression efficiency. The only scenario where keeping HEIF is preferable is within the Apple device ecosystem (iCloud, Photos, AirDrop), where HEIC is the native format. For any web delivery, AVIF is the correct choice.
- Why can browsers display AVIF but not HEIF?
- Patent licensing cost. HEVC (inside HEIF/HEIC) is covered by three patent pools whose royalty structure has made browser implementation impractical. AV1 (inside AVIF) is royalty-free under the Alliance for Open Media. caniuse.com explicitly cites this as the reason for zero HEIF browser support, with AVIF and JPEG XL designed as royalty-free successors.
- Does AVIF preserve 10-bit color from HEIF?
- Yes. libvips supports bitdepth=10 for AV1 output via vips_heifsave. 10-bit HEIF from Sony Alpha or Canon cameras is decoded at 16-bit internally (libvips stores 10-bit in a 16-bit USHORT container) and encoded to 10-bit AVIF without quantization to 8-bit. Both BT.2020 primaries and HDR transfer functions (HLG, PQ) can be preserved via CICP/NCLX color signaling in the AVIF output.
- How slow is AVIF encoding compared to JPEG?
- Cloudinary estimates AVIF encoding at 70-100x more CPU-intensive than JPEG. A 12 MP photo that encodes to JPEG in 0.3 seconds may take 2-8 seconds to encode as AVIF depending on the AV1 encoder and effort level. Convertify's server-side encoding handles this automatically — you see the total response time, not individual codec steps.
- What is AVIF browser support in 2026?
- Approximately 93-95% globally. All major browsers support AVIF: Chrome 85+ (August 2020), Firefox 93+ (October 2021), Safari 16+ (September 2022), Edge 121+ (January 2024). Per Wikipedia, browsers with AVIF support account for over 93% of global web browser usage.
- Is AVIF royalty-free?
- Yes. AV1 and AVIF are royalty-free under the Alliance for Open Media patent license. Founding members — Google, Apple, Microsoft, Mozilla, Amazon, Netflix, Cisco, Intel, and others — irrevocably grant royalty-free use of their relevant patents for AV1 compliant implementations. There is no per-device or per-stream fee for encoding or decoding AVIF.
- Can I use AVIF on WordPress?
- Yes, since WordPress 6.5 (March 2024). AVIF files can be uploaded to the media library and served directly. WordPress does not yet automatically generate AVIF alternatives for uploaded images in all themes, but AVIF is a supported upload format and can be used in img and picture element tags.
The HEIF/AVIF/HEIC family tree
HEIF (ISO/IEC 23008-12) is a container format derived from the ISO Base Media File Format (ISOBMFF, ISO/IEC 14496-12). It can carry image payloads encoded with HEVC (H.265), AVC (H.264), AV1, JPEG, or JPEG 2000. HEIC is HEIF + HEVC — Apple's branded variant. AVIF is HEIF + AV1 — developed by the Alliance for Open Media. Per the Wikipedia AVIF article, 'An AVIF file is designed to be a conformant HEIF file.' The Cloudinary engineering blog describes the relationship precisely: both AVIF and HEIC use HEIF containers around keyframe image payloads; the difference is which codec fills that payload. Converting HEIF to AVIF is therefore a codec swap within the same container family.
Why browsers chose AVIF over HEIC
HEVC (inside HEIC/HEIF) is covered by three overlapping patent pools: MPEG LA, Access Advance (formerly HEVC Advance), and Velos Media. caniuse.com's HEIF/HEIC entry states directly: 'It is hard for browsers to support HEIC because it is complex and expensive to license. AVIF and JPEG XL provide free licenses and are designed to supersede HEIC.' AV1 (inside AVIF) is royalty-free under the Alliance for Open Media, whose founding members include Google, Apple, Microsoft, Mozilla, Amazon, Netflix, Cisco, and Intel. No per-device or per-stream royalty is required for AV1 decode or encode. This is why Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge added AVIF support but have no roadmap for HEIC.
HEIF vs AVIF: format comparison
| Feature | HEIF (.heif / .heic) | AVIF (.avif) |
|---|---|---|
| Container | ISO/IEC 23008-12 (HEIF) | ISO/IEC 23008-12 (HEIF, Annex I) |
| Codec | HEVC (H.265), AVC, or AV1 | AV1 exclusively |
| Patent status | HEVC: 3 patent pools | AV1: royalty-free (Alliance for Open Media) |
| Color depth | 8-bit, 10-bit, 12-bit | 8-bit, 10-bit, 12-bit |
| HDR | Yes (HLG, PQ, BT.2020) | Yes (HLG, PQ, BT.2020, BT.2100) |
| Transparency | Yes (8-bit alpha) | Yes (8-bit alpha) |
| Animation | Yes (HEIF sequences) | Yes (AVIF sequences) |
| Browser support (2026) | 0% — not supported | ~93–95% (Chrome 85+, Firefox 93+, Safari 16+) |
| WordPress support | No | Yes (WordPress 6.5+) |
| Best for | Apple ecosystem, camera storage | Modern web, CDN, publishing |
AVIF browser support in 2026
Per caniuse.com and Wikipedia's AVIF article, all major browsers now support AVIF. Chrome 85+ (August 2020) was the first. Firefox 93+ (October 2021) followed. Safari 16+ (iOS 16 / macOS Ventura, released September-October 2022; retroactively patched for Monterey and Big Sur in Safari 16.4) completed desktop browser coverage. Edge 121+ (January 2024) added AVIF support. The Wikipedia AVIF article states AVIF is available in browsers accounting for over 93% of all web browsers by use; SpeedVitals citing caniuse September 2025 reports 93.8%. WordPress added AVIF upload and serving in version 6.5 (March 2024). Cloudflare has served AVIF since October 2020.
Compression and 10-bit color: HEVC vs AV1
At low to mid bitrates, AV1 generally matches or slightly outperforms HEVC in compression efficiency for still images. Netflix's 2020 compression study (cited in the Wikipedia AVIF article) showed AVIF outperforming JPEG and WebP at equivalent quality. Cloudinary's image format guide places AVIF at approximately 50% smaller than JPEG at similar quality. Because HEIF/HEVC and AVIF operate at similar compression efficiency, converting HEIF to AVIF at equivalent quality produces files of roughly similar size — sometimes slightly smaller. Both formats support 10-bit and 12-bit color depth. libvips's vips_heifsave with bitdepth=10 for AV1 output preserves the 10-bit precision from Sony/Canon HEIF without quantization to 8-bit.
AVIF encoding speed: what to expect
AV1 encoding is materially slower than HEVC. Cloudinary's engineering documentation characterizes AVIF encoding as 70-100 times more CPU-intensive than JPEG. The libheif issue tracker (issue #1458) documents slow AVIF encode times for large images. Three AV1 encoders are supported via libheif: libaom (reference encoder, slowest, historically best quality), rav1e (Rust encoder, faster than libaom), and SVT-AV1 (Intel/Netflix, fastest for production use). Convertify uses effort level 4 by default (libvips range 0-9 mapped to the encoder's speed setting), balancing reasonable encode time with file size. A typical 12 MP HEIF from a Samsung Galaxy takes 2-5 seconds to encode as AVIF at effort 4 versus under 0.5 seconds for JPEG.
Use cases for HEIF to AVIF
Re-publishing camera photos to a website or CMS without losing modern-format compression efficiency. Uploading Samsung Galaxy or Pixel shots to a web pipeline that serves images via picture element ladders (AVIF first, WebP fallback, JPG safety net per web.dev guidance). Optimizing Core Web Vitals — AVIF's smaller file sizes directly reduce Largest Contentful Paint times for image-heavy pages. Migrating media libraries from HEIF-based camera archives to a web-delivery format that CDNs, WordPress, and Shopify handle natively. E-commerce product photography: Sony Alpha and Canon EOS HEIF files converted to AVIF maintain excellent visual quality at half the JPEG file size.
How Convertify converts HEIF to AVIF
The Rust backend calls vips_heifload() which passes the file to libheif for container inspection and codec detection — HEVC via libde265, AVC via OpenH264, AV1 (for AVIF-in-HEIF inputs) via libaom or dav1d. The decoded VipsImage carries the ICC color profile and EXIF metadata. For the encode step, vips_heifsave is called with the output filename ending in .avif, which sets compression=VIPS_FOREIGN_HEIF_COMPRESSION_AV1 automatically. Key parameters: Q=60 by default (AVIF quality scales differently from JPEG; 60 is visually high quality), bitdepth=8 default (bitdepth=10 available for 10-bit-preserving output), effort=4 (0 fastest/largest, 9 slowest/smallest), encoder=auto (selects the fastest available AV1 encoder: SVT-AV1 if linked, rav1e next, libaom as fallback). The AVIF bytes stream to the HTTP response without temporary files on disk.