WebP vs AVIF
WebP or AVIF for web images in 2026? Compression, browser support and encoding speed compared.
Reviewed by The Markvibe Team · Last updated 2026-06-28
WebP (Google, 2010) and AVIF (AOMedia, 2019) are both modern image formats that crush JPG and PNG on file size. AVIF compresses 20-30% smaller than WebP at the same visual quality, but encoding is much slower and tooling is younger. Browser support is now universal for both.
Side-by-side comparison
| Feature | WebP | AVIF |
|---|---|---|
| Compression vs JPG | ≈30% smaller | ≈50% smaller |
| Encoding speed | Fast | 10-20× slower |
| Alpha channel | ✅ | ✅ |
| Browser support (2026) | All modern | All modern |
| Animation | ✅ | ✅ |
Our recommendation
Default to AVIF for hero and product images where every kilobyte matters. Keep WebP as a fallback and for build pipelines that can't afford the AVIF encode cost.
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