Convert GIF to AVIF
Drop a GIF file below and get a AVIF back. The conversion happens on your own machine, so nothing is uploaded and there is no size or quantity limit beyond what your browser can hold in memory.
Drop images here
Ctrl/⌘ VPaste a screenshot or copied image
Accepts GIF
Lower means a smaller file. 75 is a good default for photos.
100% in your browser Files are never uploaded.
Why convert GIF to AVIF?
For the same picture, AVIF usually lands well under the size of the GIF original. That matters when you are trimming page weight or squeezing under an upload limit.
On paper this is a thirty-year leap: GIF is capped at 256 colours with one-bit transparency, AVIF has ten-bit colour, a real alpha channel and the best compression in mainstream use. In practice the match is more awkward than the specifications suggest, because of what GIFs usually contain.
Before you convert
AVIF's strengths do not line up with GIF's content
AVIF compresses photographic detail brilliantly. GIFs are almost never photographs — they are logos, reaction images, screen recordings and diagrams, all flat colour and hard edges. Lossy AVIF softens exactly those edges, and its efficiency advantage largely evaporates on content with so little natural texture. Lossless WebP is usually the better destination for a still GIF: smaller than you would expect, and pixel-exact.
AVIF can animate — this conversion does not
The format supports animation and an animated AVIF is dramatically smaller than the equivalent GIF. This is a still image converter, though: it takes the first frame and encodes that. If keeping the motion is the point, you need a dedicated animation encoder, not this.
The palette ceiling and jagged edges come along unchanged
AVIF can hold far more than 256 colours, but only 256 are arriving — including any dithering the GIF used to fake gradients, which is preserved as part of the picture. Likewise the alpha channel has 256 levels available while the source offers only two, so edges stay stair-stepped. Capability in the destination format never fills in what the source lacked.
What carries over
- All 256 colours
- Transparent areas, still as on/off
- Pixel dimensions
What does not
- Animation beyond the first frame
- Edge crispness, if you use lossy
- Support in older browsers and email
GIF vs AVIF at a glance
| Property | GIF | AVIF |
|---|---|---|
| Compression | Lossless | Lossy |
| Transparency | Yes | Yes |
| Typical file size | 200-400% of an equivalent JPEG | 40-55% of an equivalent JPEG |
| Compatibility | Opens everywhere, including decades-old software | All current browsers; some older desktop apps lag behind |
| Usually comes from | Websites optimising page weight | Websites optimising page weight |
Frequently asked questions
Are my GIF files uploaded anywhere?
No. The decoder and encoder are WebAssembly modules that run inside this page. The network tab may show a codec downloading the first time you use a format, but no request contains your file. On supported browsers, a codec that has already been used is cached so the same conversion can work offline.
Is there a file size or quantity limit?
There is no limit imposed by us. The practical ceiling is your device’s memory, since the image has to be held uncompressed while converting. On a typical laptop, images up to around 100 megapixels convert without trouble.
Will converting to AVIF lose quality?
AVIF is a lossy format, so some data is discarded. At the default quality setting the difference is not visible at normal viewing sizes. If you need an exact copy of the pixels, choose PNG instead.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. The same WebAssembly modules run on mobile browsers. Conversion is slower than on a desktop because phone CPUs are weaker, and very large images are more likely to hit memory limits.
What happens to an animated GIF?
Only the first frame is converted. AVIF is a still image format, so there is nowhere for the remaining frames to go. If you need to keep the animation, you are looking for a video conversion rather than a still image one.
Where does AVIF actually work?
Every major browser decodes AVIF natively, so it is safe for use on the web. Desktop applications lag further behind — plenty of image viewers and editors still cannot open it. Encoding is also noticeably slower than the other formats here, so expect a large image to take a few seconds.