Which of AVIF, WebP, and JPEG XL should you use?

Pick the smallest format the place you're sending it can open. AVIF can get close to half the size of WebP, giving you less to upload and send.

FluffyBench · 5 min read · Reviewed October 15, 2026

Which format fits your job?

Start with AVIF for a smaller photo delivery copy, WebP Lossless when you need to keep every pixel, and JPEG XL when the receiving workflow calls for it.

A photo you want to send or publish in less space

FluffyBench's AVIF converter

Try AVIF when your destination accepts it. It made the smaller files in our WebP/AVIF comparison.

A screenshot or graphic whose pixels must stay exact

FluffyBench's WebP converter

Choose WebP with Compression set to Lossless. It preserves every pixel; expect a different size trade-off from lossy photo compression.

An app or recipient asks for JPEG XL

FluffyBench's JPEG XL converter

Choose JPEG XL for that destination. FluffyBench makes a regular delivery copy; see the feature table for high color precision and reversible JPEG recovery.

Can your destination open AVIF, WebP, or JPEG XL?

Think of an image format as a language for a picture: the app receiving it needs to read that language. Start with the browser, editor, publishing system, or person getting your file. The receiving app decides which formats you can use.

Destination acceptance is the first gate. Features, size, and appearance decide between the formats that get through.

A picture travels to a browser, editor, or recipient; formats the destination can open continue to feature and size checks. — Ask which app the recipient uses; for a website, check the browsers your visitors use. Sources and review notes

Check the receiving software with our browser image-format guide before choosing a delivery format.

How much smaller is AVIF than WebP?

AVIF came out about 40% smaller than WebP for a photo and about 50% smaller for an interface screenshot. That's less to send or store.

Photo sample

WebP: 90.3 KB
AVIF: 53.2 KB

Interface screenshot

WebP: 14.3 KB
AVIF: 6.7 KB

Two samples at a matched pixel-similarity target; JPEG XL wasn't measured in this size comparison.

A quality number isn't a shared scale across formats. Matching the numbers on two sliders won't match the pictures, so the useful tie-breaker is the size of a copy whose appearance you're happy with.

What does a smaller copy cost in detail?

Here's a mountain photo before conversion and at three AVIF quality settings. Lower Quality gives the encoder more room to change detail to save space.

Mountain photo with a marked ridge, followed by matching rock-and-snow details from the original JPEG and AVIF copies at Quality 92, 80, and 60, with complete-file sizes. — Look at the rock texture and snow edge; judge changes at your intended display size. AVIF copies rendered for illustration; sizes describe complete files. · Photo: NPS Photo / Tim Rains, Public domain, via National Park Service.

Doing it in FluffyBench: make an AVIF and check it

FluffyBench's AVIF converter makes a delivery copy of your still photo. The walkthrough uses the mountain photo from the quality comparison.

Choose a representative picture and set the output quality before conversion.

Step 1. Choose one typical picture; keep the original for later edits.
1. Choose images opens your file picker.
Step 2. FluffyBench's AVIF converter starts with To set to AVIF.
1. To names the format you will make.
Step 3. Open Settings before converting.
1. Settings opens the output controls.
Step 4. Choose Quality 80, the middle AVIF copy in the detail comparison.
1. Choose Quality 80.

Make the AVIF, compare the size readouts, and save the copy.

Step 1. Close Settings to return to conversion.
1. Settings also closes the panel.
Step 2. Convert makes the copy with your chosen settings.
1. Convert 1 to AVIF starts conversion.
Step 3. The source is 215.3 KB; the Quality 80 AVIF is 157.2 KB. Check the copy against your destination's size limit.
1. Read the original's dimensions and size.
2. The lower readout is the converted copy's size.
Step 4. Download saves the copy. Open it where it's going, at the size it will appear.
1. Download saves the finished AVIF.

Need to check your copy in FluffyBench's image viewer?

Image Viewer

When you need more than an ordinary photo

Bit depth means how finely a color can change from one shade to the next. Think of a sunset: finer steps give the file room for a smoother fade.

An exaggerated sunset gradient with coarse color bands above a finer gradient. — A schematic sunset with exaggerated color steps.

HDR, or high dynamic range, keeps a wider span between bright and dark detail. For an HDR photo or artwork with extra color precision, use an encoder that keeps those features. The table separates format capabilities from the copies FluffyBench makes.

Format	What the format can hold	What FluffyBench writes
WebP	8-bit color; lossy or lossless pictures.	FluffyBench's WebP converter offers Lossy and Lossless under Compression. Lossless keeps every pixel and ignores Quality.
AVIF	Up to 12-bit color and HDR.	FluffyBench's AVIF converter writes 8-bit output with adjustable quality.
JPEG XL	High color precision and HDR; reversible JPEG recovery.	FluffyBench's JPEG XL converter writes 8-bit lossy pictures, with no lossless mode or reversible JPEG recovery.

If you want to recover an original JPEG from a JPEG XL file later, you'll need reversible transcoding; our guide to what JPEG-to-JPEG-XL conversion keeps explains that choice.

How we reviewed

Reviewed October 15, 2026

Format capabilities were checked against Google's WebP documentation, the Alliance for Open Media AVIF v1.2.0 specification, and ISO/IEC 18181-1:2024 for JPEG XL. FluffyBench output settings were checked against the source code. Source claims are recorded in the measurement record.

No new runtime compatibility test or image-size benchmark was run for this guide.

The reused size comparison used Chromium 153.0.8010.12, and a 40 dB RGB PSNR target. PSNR measures pixel-by-pixel closeness, not a visual rating. Each lossy file used the lowest integer quality setting from 1 to 100 that reached that target; the photo used WebP 82 and AVIF 63, and the interface screenshot used WebP 42 and AVIF 38. The input identity and machine were not recorded in that size record. Sizes are decimal KB from exact bytes in the measurement record.

The quality ladder and walkthrough use the measurement record, an NPS mountain photo by Tim Rains (public domain). Quality 92, 80, and 60 AVIFs were rendered for illustration through the current browser-local converter; their sizes come from the rendered files, not the matched-target benchmark. The compared region is 200 by 150 pixels on the 1000 by 664 source. These illustrations do not establish a quality winner across formats.

A format's specification describes what files can contain, while a converter chooses what to write. No browser-by-app compatibility matrix was measured for this guide. Check the receiving software for the intended deployment.

The earlier otter diagnostic board linked below retains the original JPEG and default-quality-92 AVIF eye crops recorded in the measurement record, including its gold changed-pixel map. The map marks changed pixels, not a visibility threshold.