🔧 What Is AVIF? Why It Became the Default Image Format in 2026

In this article:


What AVIF actually is, who built it, what problem it solves
Why the same image is ~50% smaller than JPEG and ~20% smaller than WebP at equivalent quality
When AVIF is the right call — and when it isn't
2026 browser support: is it finally safe to use everywhere?


Let me start with one number. The same 1920×1080 photo, encoded at...