Like Google, Microsoft or Mozilla, Apple will support AVIF in macOS, iOS and iPadOS, a new image format better than the classic Jpeg.
We know that Apple does not like to do like everyone else. The Apple firm is known for favoring its solutions and technologies, sometimes going against what the industry offers – which allows it to assert its difference and, sometimes, to get ahead. However, it also knows how to fall into line from time to time, by adopting standards, if only for compatibility issues. And this is what it will do for AVIF, a new image format, which will be automatically managed in its future operating systems for Mac, iPhone and iPad, namely macOS 13 (Ventura), iOS 16 and iPadOS 16, which will be released next fall.
AVIF: a much better image format than Jpeg
L’AVIFreal name AV1 Image File Format, is a new image file format developed by theAlliance for Open Media (AOM), an organization that brings together digital giants like Amazon, Amazon, Apple, ARM, Cisco, Facebook, Google, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Mozilla, Netflix and Nvidia. AVIF is based on theAV1, a video codec developed by the alliance which is much more efficient than competing codecs such as H.264 or H.265, with a compression level of 30 to 50% higher for equivalent quality. AVIF, which can be considered a still image version of AV1, has the same advantage over the classic – but old – Jpeg. A valuable asset on the Web, to avoid loading pages with “heavy” files. But this is not its only advantage. Because AVIF also knows how to manage transparency (like TIFF or PNG), HDR (High Dynamic Range) to improve dynamics (screens between light peaks and dark areas), several colorimetric spaces and even granularity photo films (a detail that will please the experts). Even better, it can compress images with or without loss of information, which opens up a wide range of uses.
It is no coincidence that it has already been adopted in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Windows 11 or Android, to name but a few. An adoption which should spread all the more quickly as it is an open format (open source) and free: there are effectively no royalties to be paid to use it or to implement it in software or operating system. This probably explains why Apple has just resolved to support it. But the Apple firm will not make it its default format. It still favors HEIC, its proprietary format which offers similar advantages – with a few technical nuances – and which will remain the default format for saving photos on the iPhone, for example. Clearly, Apple will allow its users to read AVIF images sent by correspondents or displayed in Web pages. And that’s all ! Note that the AVIF is already managed in Safari Preview that Apple is currently testing, as 9to5Mac announced on Twitter.