Does Windows support AVIF already?

18.11.20 · 0 min read

Microsoft supports AVIF

AVIF got a significant boost when Microsoft decided to add support for it in the Windows 10 May 2019 Update. Windows 10 does not support the AVIF image format natively, but the software giant has incorporated this functionality into some of its core programs, notably the File Explorer and Paint program.
As long as you have the correct AV1 video codec from the Microsoft Store installed on your computer, you can view AVIF images natively within Windows 10 apps like Paint and File Explorer.

With an extension

Without proper configuration, tools like Microsoft Paint throw a bug that says that the AVIF file is not a valid format and is not supported by the application. If you are looking for AVIF support for Windows 10, you can either wait until Microsoft implements it by default, or take a look at the extension.
AV1 extension has been around since Windows 10 version 1809, when support for the AV1 video format first appeared. Since version 1903, the extension is also able to process AVIF files.

Results

After installing the extension, File Explorer generates a thumbnail image for the AVIF image format. Additionally, MSPaint allows editing and saving these images. You may want to use a more advanced image editor than Paint to work on image files such as AVIF. For more details, see our article about GIMP.