The short answer: serve both
ADee bothStill curious which format "wins"? Here is the honest comparison — and why it mostly does not matter once your site serves both.
Round 1 — file size
Both formats blow JPEG out of the water, but AVIF squeezes harder:
| Format | Typical saving vs JPEG | Sweet spot |
|---|---|---|
| WebP | 25–35% smaller | Quality 75–85 |
| AVIF | Up to 50% smaller | Quality 55–70 |
AVIF's advantage grows exactly where it matters most: photographic images with gradients, skies and fine detail. For a hero image weighing 800 KB as JPEG, WebP typically lands around 550 KB while AVIF often dips below 400 KB — with better colour detail than either rival at that size.
Round 2 — browser support
This used to be AVIF's weakness. It no longer is:
| Browser | WebP | AVIF |
|---|---|---|
| Chrome / Edge | Since 2020 | Since Chrome 85 (2020) |
| Firefox | Since 2020 | Since Firefox 93 (2021) |
| Safari | Since Safari 14 | Since Safari 16.4 (2023) |
| Opera / Samsung Internet | Supported | Supported |
In 2026 every major current browser decodes AVIF. WebP retains a slim edge only on very old, unpatched browsers — which is precisely why the fallback chain (AVIF → WebP → original) beats betting on a single format.
Round 3 — transparency, animation and colour
- Transparency: both formats support full alpha, so your PNG logos and screenshots keep their clean edges. AVIF additionally handles wide colour gamuts and HDR.
- Animation: both support animated sequences. In practice animated files can grow large, and ADee skips any conversion that would end up larger than the source.
- Text and flat graphics: AVIF keeps sharp edges on UI screenshots and diagrams noticeably better at aggressive compression levels.
Round 4 — encoding cost on your server
wp adee convert all
How ADee puts it all together
ADee checks what your server can do and picks the best available engine for each format — no configuration required. The detection order is shown live on its dashboard:
| Format | Detection order | Typical availability |
|---|---|---|
| WebP | GD → Imagick → cwebp | Nearly universal |
| AVIF | Imagick → avifenc → GD | Imagick with AVIF delegate, or the avifenc binary |
image/avif
image/webp
The verdict
WebP AVIFRelated ADee guides
Frequently asked questions
Is AVIF always smaller than WebP?
Usually, but not always. Photographic content shows AVIF's biggest wins; some simple graphics compress to nearly identical sizes in both formats. Serving both and letting the browser choose keeps you covered either way.
Does Safari really support AVIF now?
Yes — since Safari 16.4 (March 2023) on macOS and iOS. Combined with Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera and Samsung Internet, AVIF coverage among active browsers is effectively universal in 2026.
Is WebP bad for SEO or Google Image Search?
No. Google originally created WebP and uses page speed as a ranking signal — serving smaller images helps, whatever the format. With picture-tag serving your original URLs stay intact, so image SEO is unaffected.
Do I lose quality with AVIF?
betterMy shared host is slow — which format should I enable?
Start with WebP only: fast to encode, universal to serve. Add AVIF when you are ready — ADee picks up whatever AVIF engine your host offers (or the avifenc binary) and converts the backlog in gentle batches.
