AVIF
The modern image format that crushes JPEG.
Where it came from
AVIF (AV1 Image File Format) was released in 2019 by the Alliance for Open Media (Google, Netflix, Amazon, Microsoft) as the still-image cousin of the AV1 video codec. The mission: royalty-free compression that beats JPEG and even HEIC.
Backed by every major browser by 2022, AVIF is now the go-to for web images that must be tiny without looking bad.
How it works
Technically AVIF reuses AV1 intra-frame coding — the same tech that shrinks 4K video — applied to a single picture. It supports HDR, wide color gamut, transparency, and lossless modes.
The catch is CPU: encoding is slow, decoding needs modern hardware. UWC converts AVIF → PNG/JPEG on the server (sharp + libavif), so your browser never does the heavy lifting.
Convert AVIF
Turn AVIF into universally readable PNG/JPEG — processed server-side, file stays private.