Firefox AVIF Support, Updated Guide August 2021

Update August 2021

Mozilla has announced that current AVIF image support is complete. Also, they claim previously encountered problems with the format have been resolved. We can expect Firefox 93 to have a full, compliant AVIF support enabled by default. Version 93 will be released at the beginning of October.

There have been other industry adoption for AVIF images, such as Microsoft with Windows. Google added support for AVIF to Chrome earlier this year and shipped it with Chrome 85.

Mozilla Firefox has encountered several errors and drawbacks that led to delayed support for AVIF, the image format based on the AV1 video codec.

There was a Mozilla bug ticket tracking the default support of AVIF. The patch enabling default support has initially been pushed but reverted as a result of broken tests. Those items have been reviewed. Then again, several open bugs and issues have led to support still not being the default. This has mainly to do with the current AVIF spec from AOM. In any case, Firefox will support AVIF images with its following versions. We can't wait for Firefox users to be able to use and view AVIF images directly. For those looking to convert their pictures to AVIF, try out our fastest converter. It works with Firefox already.

Original Post

In version 77 (released in June 2020), Mozilla recently implemented experimental support for the AVIF image format in Firefox. The feature is not enabled by default in the web browser's production version. Still, users interested in adding support may do so at the time of writing. When enabled, Firefox will render AVIF image files like any other image format supported by the web browser. AVIF was developed from the AV1 video format and uses HEIF as the container and AV1 frames. It is a new format with efficient image compression resulting in low file size. An AVIF file can be seen as a new image format that is the perfect replacement for existing image formats. AV1 is already supported in most web browsers, and the work has begun to integrate AVIF too.

Check your version

If you want to find out your browser's version, open the Firefox browser settings located at the top right, head to the help menu, and click 'about'. If you have version 77 or above, you will be able to use the tutorial below to enable the AVIF image format.

opening the menu in firefoxopening the about menu in firefoxfirefox version

Enable AVIF support in Firefox

Provided that you have installed a compatible version, you can easily add support for AVIF with the about:config configurations. Type about:config inside the address bar and press Enter.

typing about:config inside the browser url

Most likely, a warning message will appear, telling you to be careful. No worries, we will be handling everything gently. Click on 'Accept the risk and continue'.

firefox warning

In the search bar at the top of the page, search for avif. The option image.avif.enabled is the one you are looking for. If the second column's value shows 'false', click the right switch button to set it to true. A 'true' value means that Firefox supports AVIF, whereas a 'false' value means the browser's image format isn't supported.

firefox search for avif support

Mozilla considers support to be experimental. However, most AVIF files should be rendered successfully, and full native support is expected to arrive in the early months of 2021. Remember to restart Firefox. Then come back to this page to see this fantastic image: your browser may show this AVIF img

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