AVIF, the inevitable rise

In the recent update of the LiteSpeed Cache for WordPress (LSCWP) plugin to version 7.0, the AVIF format has been added to its image optimisation option.

Since 2023, WordPress version 6.5 allows uploading and serving images in AVIF format and since then I've been using them in longer posts and even manually replacing some heavier single images. As cross-browser compatibility has improved and is now almost complete, AVIFs don't get as bad a press as in their first months of life.

The idea is to lighten the weight of the total number of images, which has been growing over time. As you read this post, the site already contains 16,632 images. For this amount I have not yet found a free and safe way to massively replace them with AVIF versions. So I'm doing it manually without aspiring to change them all.

For online conversion, Squoosh is still one of the best options. Just forget about batch conversion.

AVIF, an open format developed in 2019 by the Alliance for Open Media, offers significant improvements in image quality and compression over previous formats such as JPEG, PNG and even WebP. AVIF images can be up to 50% smaller than JPEG and more than 30% smaller than WebP while maintaining the same image quality.

AVIF images also support a wide colour gamut (including HDR) and produce sharper images than JPEGs, especially in areas of high detail.

This much-needed free and batch LiteSpeed option, vital for improving loading speed, allows you to optimise your images, significantly reducing their weight with almost no loss of quality.

You can choose to manually press a button to optimise each new batch of images, or set it to be an automatic process. In addition, you can convert images to WebP for free to serve them in compatible browsers while keeping the originals on your server. Now you can do the same and choose between WebP and AVIF.

The bad news is that converting to AVIF with LiteSpeed is not free, you will have to pull from your QUIC. CLOUD.

"While image optimisation and WebP generation are free through the Standard Queue, AVIF files are only processed through the Advanced Queue, which requires a fee".

I haven't yet worked out what it might cost me to generate AVIF versions instead of the current WebP versions of all my images, nor how much disk storage space I would reclaim.

I don't have a very good idea yet of what I would gain in overall loading speed, but I think it would be worth it. The only thing that is certain is that the number of inodes would remain the same unless I opted to delete the originals in jpeg, png, etc. and keep them in local storage.

It is also unclear to me which new generation format will finally "reign". At the moment, WebP is ahead of its competition by a couple of points , but ADIF is experiencing steady and unstoppable growth and although it is not yet possible to speak of mass adoption, the noticeable increase in page speed and image quality will almost certainly give AVIF the throne.

Here are three images for you to see what it looks like and compare. I have chosen one with a lot of colour, but you should try it with photographs with a lot of detail to appreciate the differences.

The first one is a JPG already optimised and compressed, the second one is the result of converting it to WebP and the third one is also the conversion of the first one to AVIF.