avifenc

Encode images into AVIF format

TLDR

Convert a PNG image to AVIF

$ avifenc [path/to/input.png] [path/to/output.avif]

Encode with a specific speed (0=slowest, 10=fastest)

$ avifenc --speed [2] [path/to/input.png] [path/to/output.avif]

Set quality level (0-100, higher is better)

$ avifenc --qcolor [60] [path/to/input.png] [path/to/output.avif]

SYNOPSIS

avifenc [options] input output.avif

avifenc encodes images into the AV1 Image File Format (AVIF), a modern image format based on the AV1 video codec. AVIF provides excellent compression efficiency, often achieving smaller file sizes than JPEG and WebP at equivalent quality.The encoder supports input from PNG, JPEG, and Y4M formats and can produce both lossy and lossless AVIF images.

PARAMETERS

-q, --qcolor n

Quality for color (0-100, where 100 is lossless; default 60)

--qalpha n

Quality for alpha channel (0-100, where 100 is lossless; default 100)

-s, --speed n

Encoding speed (0-10, default 6). Lower values produce better quality but take longer

-l, --lossless

Encode losslessly (sets quality to 100 for both color and alpha)

-d, --depth bits

Output bit depth (8, 10, or 12)

-j, --jobs n

Number of parallel encoding jobs, or `all` to use all available cores (default: all)

-o, --output file

Output filename (alternative to positional argument)

--min n, --max n

Deprecated: minimum/maximum quantizer (0-63, lower is better quality). Replaced by `--qcolor`

CAVEATS

Encoding at low speed values can be extremely slow. AVIF support in browsers and image viewers is still growing but not universal. Very high quality settings may produce larger files than the original. The older `--min`/`--max` quantizer flags were deprecated in libavif 1.2.0 in favour of `--qcolor`/`--qalpha`.

HISTORY

AVIF was developed by the Alliance for Open Media and finalized in 2019. It is based on the AV1 video codec, which itself was designed to be a royalty-free alternative to HEVC/H.265.