Convert GIF to AVIF
Output is typically about 75% smaller.
- Files stay on your device
- Free, no sign-up
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Will converting GIF to AVIF make the file smaller?
Usually, yes. A 12-megapixel photo is around 5.5 MB as GIF and around 1.4 MB as AVIF — about 75% smaller. Because AVIF is lossless the result depends entirely on the image content — flat colour and text compress far better than photographic detail.
Does converting GIF to AVIF lose quality?
A little, by design. GIF is lossless and AVIF is lossy, so some detail is discarded in exchange for a much smaller file. At quality 80–90 the result is visually indistinguishable from the original for photographs. For screenshots, logos or anything with sharp text, stay with a lossless format instead — lossy compression creates visible halos around hard edges.
Is transparency preserved when converting GIF to AVIF?
Yes. Both GIF and AVIF support an alpha channel, so transparent and semi-transparent pixels carry across unchanged — a logo with a cut-out background stays cut out, and soft drop shadows keep their gradient rather than picking up a white halo. Because AVIF can compress lossily, a very hard edge against transparency may pick up slight softness at high compression; keep quality at 85 or above for cut-out graphics.
What happens to an animated GIF?
Only the first frame is converted. Every conversion here decodes one frame onto a canvas and re-encodes it, so the result is always a still image — that applies to AVIF as much as to any other target. To shrink an animation while keeping the motion, a video file (MP4 or WebM) is usually around a tenth of the size of the equivalent GIF, and needs an encoder we do not ship yet.
Should I use AVIF or WebP?
AVIF files are typically 25–35% smaller than WebP at the same quality, which is a real win on image-heavy pages. The trade-offs are much slower encoding and a support floor of Safari 16.4 (March 2023), so a small share of visitors cannot see it. Serve AVIF with a WebP fallback via a <picture> element if you want both.
How it works, and more about gif to avif
How it works
- Add your GIF file. Drag a GIF file onto the drop zone, or click to browse. You can select several at once.
- Choose your settings. Adjust the quality slider if you want a smaller file or a sharper result. 80 suits most photographs.
- Download the AVIF. Conversion runs on your device as soon as each file is added — no upload, no queue. Download each result when it is ready.
GIF and AVIF side by side
| GIF | AVIF | |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Graphics Interchange Format | AV1 Image File Format |
| Compression | Lossless | Lossy or lossless |
| Transparency | Yes — alpha channel | Yes — alpha channel |
| Animation | Yes | Yes, in the format |
| Browser support | Universal — every browser since 1987 | Chrome 85+, Firefox 93+, Safari 16.4+ (March 2023), Edge 121+ |
| Typical 12 MP photo | ~5.5 MB | ~1.4 MB |
| Usually used for | Short looping animations, reaction clips and email-safe motion | Performance-critical web images where every kilobyte counts |
On a typical 12-megapixel phone photo, the AVIF output comes out about 75% smaller than the GIF original. These are order-of-magnitude figures for one kind of image — your own results will vary a great deal, because flat colour, text and line art behave nothing like photographic detail, and the quality slider moves the figure substantially.
What this tool actually produces
Not estimates. Each row below was produced by running the file through this page in a real browser and measuring the result, at the default quality of 82.
| Test image | GIF in | AVIF out | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Line-art diagram 1200 × 800, hard edges and large flat areas | 17 KB | 29 KB | +76% |
| Logo with transparency 512 × 512, flat colour on a transparent background | 49 KB | 32 KB | -33% |
Note that the direction is not the same for every image. Converting GIF to AVIFmakes some of these files smaller and others larger, which is why a single “AVIFis smaller” rule of thumb is worth distrusting — what matters is what is in the picture. Measured in Chrome 150.0.7871.46; other browsers encode slightly differently.
What to watch out for
- Encoding is computationally expensive and noticeably slow
- Requires Safari 16.4+ (2023), so a small share of users still miss it
- Sparse support outside browsers — most desktop editors cannot open it
- Animation is lost. Only the first frame is converted — every conversion here decodes a single frame onto a canvas and re-encodes it, so the result is a still image whatever the target format. To shrink an animation and keep the motion, a video file is typically around a tenth of the size of the equivalent GIF.
About the two formats
GIF survives entirely on momentum. It is capped at 256 colours per frame, has only on/off transparency, and produces files several times larger than a modern video or WebP animation of the same clip. It remains useful only because it autoplays and loops in places that block video, such as some email clients and chat apps.
AVIF currently produces the smallest files of any widely supported format — commonly half the size of JPEG at the same perceived quality, with excellent handling of gradients and noise. The cost is encoding time, which can be seconds per image rather than milliseconds, and support that only became universal with Safari 16.4 in 2023.
Other conversions
Everything runs on your device — nothing is uploaded, so there is no size limit, no queue and no copy left on a server afterwards. There is more on how browser-based conversion works if you want the detail. Otherwise, browse every image tool, or convert AVIF back to GIF.