In recent years, web imagery has been subjected to a face-off between WEBP and AVIF, the two revolutionary file formats stemming from the desire to optimize website performance.
However, while both file formats aim to increase website performance and user experience, they outdo each other based on their built-in features.
In this article, we closely examine the browser support, image quality, performance, compression abilities, structure, animation and transparency support, and file sizes and storage abilities of these file formats.
When is WEBP better than AVIF?
Lossless WEBP files are smaller, while lossless AVIF files are larger. Thus, lossless WEBP has better web responsiveness and user experience than lossless AVIF, making it an excellent file format for images without text.
Uncompressed AVIF images are comparatively larger than uncompressed WEPB files, necessitating more bandwidth.
When is AVIF better than WEBP?
AVIF renders superior lossy compression, while WEBP lossy compression results in colour banding, blurring, and blockiness. As a result, the AVIF file format is the best choice for text-based and graphic images.
WEBP files are 10% larger than AVIF files, slowing down website loading time and necessitating more bandwidth or storage space than AVIF files.
Differences and similarities between WEBP and AVIF images
AVIF and WEBP are next-generation file formats that maintain high image quality, enhance website loading speed, save bandwidth, and are significantly smaller.
Despite sharing most attributes, AVIF and WEBP differ in compression efficiency, structure (color representation), HRD support, file size, and browser compatibility.
Table Comparison
Transparency
AVIF and WEBP have inherent support for alpha transparency channels, allowing users to optimize their images with varying opacity levels. However, AVIF provides inherent transparency support for 10-bit and 12-bit images, while WEBP files support alpha channel transparency for only 8-bit images.
Thus, AVIF's alpha channel transparency is relatively effective compared to WEBP. Notably, only lossless AVIF images support transparency, while lossy AVIF images do not.
WEBP, on the other hand, emerges as the only file format supporting RGB (Red, Green, and Blue) alpha channel transparency for lossy images. Thus, when selecting a file format for transparent images, use AVIF for lossless compression and WEBP for lossy compression.
File Size
An AVIF file is comparatively smaller compared to a WEBP file. For example, compared to a WEBP file, an AVIF file is 20-30% smaller.
The AVIF efficient compression technique ensures it attains the desired file size. AVIF employs AV1 compression technology, which is relatively more efficient and advanced than WEBP's V8 compression technology.
The variation in technological application during compression gives AVIF a competitive edge over WEBP, ensuring it provides smaller file sizes than the latter file format. However, WEBP outperforms AVIF in terms of uncompressed images. The uncompressed AVIF images are 1.75 times larger than WEBP images.
Image Quality
WEBP and AVIF offer high-quality images, each with its distinct advantages.
AVIF images are high-quality because they accommodate a broad color spectrum or depth, including 8-bit, 10-bit, and 12-bit. This feature allows AVIF to represent various colors, significantly amplifying its image vibrancy.
AVIF’s support for Wide Color Gamut (WCG) and High Dynamic Range (HDR) images signifies its ability to relay an extensive array of dark and light shades. Its images are compressed and rendered with high clarity and realism resulting from the enriched tonal variation.
WEBP file format is similarly acknowledged for its versatility and quality trade-off. While it creates high-quality images, it only boasts an 8-bit color channel in its lossy RGB encoding. Nonetheless, regarding color richness and sharpness of the resultant images, AVIF is superior to WEBP.
Colored texts and finer image details may suffer since WEBP uses the customary VP8 codec, which hardly supports new formats and more expansive color depths than AVIF.
Performance
AVIF and WEBP are modern file formats that improve image quality and web performance. File sizes depend on image compression efficiency. AVIF's AV1 compression technology is efficient and more advanced than WEBP's V8 and VP8L technologies.
Lossy AVIF files are 20%-30% smaller than lossy WEBP files, increasing web responsiveness. On the other hand, lossless WEBP and uncompressed WEBP files are smaller than uncompressed and lossless AVIF files. Hence, WEBP performs better than AVIF regarding lossless and uncompressed files.
Generally, AVIF offers 10% performance enhancement across the compression range, making its images smaller than WEBP. Therefore, the significantly smaller AVIF files or images load faster on websites than WEBP.
Structure
WEBP and AVIF are raster graphic file formats using lossless and lossy compression techniques to reduce image or file sizes. AVIF supports HDR, more color profiles, animation, and transparency.
AVIF can handle 8-bit, 10-bit, and 12-bit colors at full resolution, generating high-quality images. Conversely, WEBP supports animation, transparency, different color profiles, and 8-bit color.
A WEBP file incorporates a VP8L or VP8 image data enclosed within the RIFF-based container. The file format groups its pixel values using blocks beside them while encoding only the emerging differences. It uses pre-existing images to reconstruct new pixels.
AVIF uses AV1 infra- and inter-frame coding to encode images. AV1 (video) codec segments its images into smaller blocks and employs predictive coding and transformation techniques to minimize redundancies between and within frames. It further utilizes block sizes to reduce image sizes.
Animation
WEBP supports animation using a WEBP animate variant (WEP-A) compatible with animated images. In contrast, AVIF files support animation and live photos using their multilayer image storage sequence. The file format is compatible with HIEF, which enables image sequences and elements.
Storage
AVIF stores image sequences or images in a compressed format using an advanced AV1 codec in the HEIF framework. WEBP, on the other hand, uses the VP8 and VP8L video codecs to reduce image size and predictive coding for lossy WEBP.
Both techniques result in smaller file sizes, necessitating less storage space. Nonetheless, the lossy AVIF is 10% smaller than WEBP files, necessitating significantly less storage space. Conversely, lossless WEBP performs better in storage space than lossless AVIF.
Besides, uncompressed WEBP images require less bandwidth than uncompressed AVIF. Thus, compressed AVIF images need less storage space than WEBP except for lossless compression and uncompressed images.
Depending on the handling process, storage conditions, and storage medium used, both AVIF and WEBP images or files can be stored indefinitely.
The AVIF and WEBP files or image storage mediums include HEIF containers, cloud storage, file systems, floppy drives, hard drives, Content Delivery Network (CDN), and Base64 encoding.
Compression
Both WEBP and AVIF file formats use lossless and lossy compression techniques. Nonetheless, the AVIF file format uses AV1 (video 1) codec to compress motion and still or static pictures efficiently.
It uses its advanced AV1 video codec compression technique to create highly compressed images, which preserve image qualities while significantly minimizing its file sizes.
Conversely, the WEBP file format uses the VP8 video codec as the basis for its image compression and employs predictive coding during lossy compression. For lossless compression, WEBP reconstructs new pixels using fragments of an already processed image.
Whereas both file formats use lossy and lossless compression methods, AVIF combines image fidelity with reduced file sizes, making it a versatile and appealing file format for website designers and developers who prioritize web efficiency over WEBP.
A compressed AVIF file or image can retain its clarity, fine text details, and sharp edges, giving it a comparative advantage over a compressed WEBP image, particularly when handling images with low-quality settings.
AVIF enhances clarity preservation in cases that involve critical graphics details or text overlays, highlighting its specific suitability for such image content where crispiness is paramount.
Browser Support
AVIF is only supported by dominant web browsers, including Opera, Firefox, Edge, Safari, and Chrome. Starting with version 97, Android browsers support AVIF.
The increase in AVIF’s compatibility and support across different browsers signals a brighter future for its capabilities and widespread usage in web optimization. However, its browser support and compatibility limit its online use more than WEBP.
WEBP enjoys greater universal browser support than AVIF. Following the release of Android 4.2 Jelly Bean MRI, it became inherently compatible with Android's default browser. WEBP is the safest choice for most websites.
WEBP is fully compatible with Opera, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, and Brave. Its support is only limited to Internet Explorer and other older browsers.
Currently, AVIF enjoys approximately 93.16% browser support, while WEBP relishes 96.86% browser compatibility and support.
Conclusion
The two versatile next-generation file formats share most features, but WEBP is the best option compared to AVIF regarding lossless compression. WEBP is ideal for images that hardly contain text.
On the contrary, AVIF offers grander lossy compression for text images and photos, with 10% perfection across compression compared to WEBP.