Convert AVIF to PNG
AVIF is where the web went. PNG is what the rest of your software still expects.
What an AVIF actually is
AVIF is a still frame from the AV1 video codec, wrapped in a container. That sounds like a hack and is in fact why it compresses so well: a modern video codec spends enormous effort on predicting one part of a picture from another, and a single frame benefits from all of it. In practice an AVIF is roughly half the size of a JPEG that looks the same.
Browsers picked it up quickly — Chrome from version 85, Firefox from 93, Safari from 16.4 — and image CDNs now serve it by default. Desktop software did not keep pace. Windows needs the AV1 Video Extension from the Microsoft Store before Explorer will even show a thumbnail, and a great deal of otherwise current software still shows an error. That gap is the entire reason this page exists.
PNG will not give the quality back
This is the part most converters leave out. PNG is lossless, so it stores exactly what it is given — but what it is given is the already-compressed AVIF, artefacts and all. Converting to PNG freezes the current state of the image; it does not recover detail that AV1 discarded.
What it does do is make the file much larger. A PNG of a photographic AVIF commonly lands at five to twenty times the original size, because PNG's compression has no idea how to exploit the smooth gradients that AVIF handles so cheaply. If you simply need a file your software will open and do not need transparency or an editing master, AVIF to JPG produces something far more sensible. Choose PNG when you need the alpha channel, when the image is a screenshot or graphic rather than a photograph, or when the file is going into a pipeline that will re-edit it.
Transparency, HDR and what does not survive
The alpha channel comes through intact — that is PNG's main advantage here, and it is why this page does not flatten anything onto white.
Two things do get lost. AVIF can store 10- or 12-bit colour and HDR metadata; the browser canvas is 8-bit per channel, so an HDR AVIF is tone-mapped down on decode and wide-gamut colours may shift slightly. And an animated AVIF, like an animated WebP, gives up a single frame — PNG cannot hold a sequence.
If it says it cannot read the file
This page has no AVIF decoder of its own; it uses your browser's. On an older browser, or on a build without AV1 support, the file simply will not decode and each row will say so rather than silently producing a blank image. Opening the same page in an up-to-date Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari fixes it.
Common questions
Will converting to PNG improve the image quality?
No. The AVIF has already been compressed; PNG stores what is there losslessly, including any artefacts. The only thing that changes is the file format and the file size.
Why is the PNG so much bigger than the AVIF?
Because PNG stores every pixel exactly and cannot exploit the prediction tricks AV1 uses. Five to twenty times the original size is normal for a photograph. For screenshots and flat graphics the ratio is much smaller.
Does the transparent background survive?
Yes. PNG has a full alpha channel, so transparency is carried through unchanged. Nothing is flattened onto white on this page.
What about 10-bit or HDR AVIF files?
They decode, but the browser tone-maps them to 8-bit per channel on the way to the canvas. The picture is correct; the extra dynamic range is not preserved.
It says my browser has no AVIF decoder. What now?
Update the browser, or open the page in Chrome 85+, Edge, Firefox 93+ or Safari 16.4+. This page deliberately reports the failure instead of handing you an empty image.