GIF to AVIF Converter

GIF to AVIF, half the size. Nothing ever uploads.

Drop GIF files below — get AVIF images back, typically 40–60% smaller than the GIF at the same visual quality, with transparency kept as AVIF alpha. Converted entirely on your device.

Animated GIF? Only the first frame is saved — AVIF stills cannot hold animation, so the motion is lost. The frame count is shown on every file.

  • Your file data never leaves the device
  • Quality slider 50–100
  • Batch up to 20 files
  • Transparency preserved

Convert GIF to AVIF

Add your GIF files

Drag & drop GIF files here

or browse your files · you can also paste from clipboard (Ctrl+V)

Up to 25 MB per file · up to 20 files per batch · file data never leaves your device

Loading the AVIF encoder…

    No files yet. Everything stays on this device. Downloads start instantly.

    Privacy you can verify, not just trust

    Most online GIF converters upload your images to their servers first — and some keep a download link live for 30 days. This one can't: your browser decodes the GIF with a local script and the AVIF encoder (libavif, compiled to WebAssembly) runs entirely in your browser. Your file data never leaves the device — the only third-party requests are the site's own analytics, which count page views — and it uploads nothing, ever. The encoder file (~3.5 MB) is served from this site, not fetched from anywhere else, and is loaded once, on your first convert. There is no file fetched after load for the conversion itself. Don't take our word for it:

    New cross-origin requests during use: 0
    1. Press F12 to open developer tools, then the Network tab.
    2. Convert any GIF above. Watch: apart from the site's analytics, nothing new is requested — no uploads, and no file data ever leaves your device.
    3. Extra credit: disconnect your internet after this page loads — conversion still works.

    How to convert GIF to AVIF without uploading it

    Every "free" online GIF converter you've used uploads your images to a company server, converts them there, and — in several documented cases — keeps a copy or a live download link for days. For graphics, logos, and anything you wouldn't post publicly, that's an unnecessary risk. The safer approach is to convert the file where it already is: on your own device.

    This tool does exactly that. When you drop a GIF here, your browser:

    1. Decodes the GIF locally — in a Web Worker, with the vendored omggif decoder, honouring disposal methods and the transparent palette index, so the first frame comes out exactly as the GIF shows it.
    2. Keeps the transparency — transparent pixels become AVIF alpha, so logos and icons stay see-through. There is no background picker and no flattening.
    3. Resizes it to the width you picked (800 px by default), keeping the aspect ratio. Images at or below the chosen width keep their size — nothing is upscaled.
    4. Encodes it as AVIF with libavif, the reference AVIF encoder, running as WebAssembly in your browser — lossy at the quality you pick. Your original file is never modified. Encoding takes roughly 5–10 seconds for a large image, and each file card shows how long its encode took.

    What happens to animation?

    It is lost — honestly and on purpose. The vendored AVIF encoder is still-only: it cannot encode an animated sequence, so an animated GIF converts to its first frame only, exactly like XConvert and Fylo do. The file card shows the frame count (for example, "3 frames"), and animated files carry a plain warning that only the first frame was saved. If you need the animation, keep the GIF — or use our GIF to JPG converter to extract every frame as its own still image. Still GIFs convert normally, with nothing lost.

    Why is there no lossless mode?

    Because the lossless mode in this encoder is broken — and shipping a broken toggle would be worse than having none. When the vendored libavif encoder is asked for lossless output, it produces a greyscale file: a colour image comes back without its colour (a solid red test image decodes back as grey). That was verified with two independent decoders, so it is the encoder, not the preview. Rather than offer a control that silently destroys your images, this tool is lossy only: pick a quality (80 by default) for the image's destination — a website, a blog post, Discord or a forum — and at quality 80 the result looks identical to the original for almost every image, typically 40–60% smaller than the GIF. If you need every pixel exactly, convert to PNG instead, which is lossless by design. Either way, keep the GIF as your master copy and publish the AVIF.

    Why is AVIF smaller than GIF?

    GIF compresses by limiting an image to 256 colours and squeezing repeats, a technique from 1987. AVIF's AV1 codec predicts neighbouring pixels far better and encodes the difference more efficiently, so the same graphic typically comes out 40–60% smaller at quality 80 with no visible difference. That is why switching a site's GIFs to AVIF is one of the cheapest PageSpeed wins there is. The saving is real but not magic: a GIF that was already tiny and flat has little left to squeeze, and at quality 100 the AVIF can come out bigger than the GIF it came from.

    Why won't my GIF load fast enough on my site?

    GIF is the web's default for simple graphics and animation, but a GIF used as a static image still costs a full download, and every kilobyte is time your visitor waits — especially on a phone. AVIF keeps the picture looking the same while cutting the weight, which is what Core Web Vitals and PageSpeed measure. If the destination has a size limit, pick a destination preset and the converter will aim for it: website heroes aim for under 300 KB, blog images under 150 KB, Discord or forum uploads under 256 KB.

    Why is there no canvas fallback?

    With WebP, a converter can fall back to the browser's built-in canvas encoder when its own encoder fails. AVIF has no such safety net: canvas toBlob with image/avif is not reliably available — Safari cannot encode AVIF at all — so a canvas "fallback" would either fail silently or hand you a WebP file with an .avif name, which is worse than no file at all. This tool uses the vendored libavif encoder and nothing else. If that encoder cannot load, conversion is disabled and the page says so plainly, with a link to the GIF to JPG converter instead.

    Honest limitations

    First frame only

    Animated GIFs lose their motion: only the first frame is saved, because the AVIF encoder is still-only. The frame count is shown on every file card, so it is never a surprise.

    Lossy only

    The output always discards some detail. Quality 80 is visually identical to the original for most images, but quality 100 is near-lossless, not pixel-perfect. Keep the GIF as your master copy.

    No lossless mode — on purpose

    This encoder's lossless option produces greyscale files, so the toggle was left out rather than ship a control that silently strips the colour from your images. For pixel-exact output, convert to PNG instead.

    Quality 100 can be larger than the GIF

    At quality 100 the AVIF can come out bigger than the GIF it came from, especially for tiny flat graphics. If the file comes out bigger, the card says so — use a lower quality for publishing instead.

    AVIF encoding is slow

    Roughly 5–10 seconds for a large image, because the AV1 encoder searches far more ways to pack the image into fewer bytes. The batch converts one file at a time and each card shows its encode time, so the wait is visible.

    Transparency is preserved

    GIF's transparent pixels become AVIF alpha, so logos and icons stay see-through — shown on a checkerboard in the preview. There is no background picker and nothing is flattened onto a colour.

    GIF is capped at 256 colours

    The AVIF cannot exceed the source's colour detail. Converting a GIF cannot add colours or detail that were never there — it keeps exactly the quality the GIF had.

    Metadata is dropped

    EXIF and other metadata in the GIF is not carried into the AVIF. GIFs rarely carry EXIF, but nothing is copied over — which is good for privacy.

    Not every app accepts AVIF yet

    Every modern browser displays AVIF, and Discord, Slack and most forums accept it — but a few older upload forms and apps still only take JPG or PNG. Check the destination first, or convert to JPG instead.

    Very large images depend on your device

    The encoder runs entirely on your device, so a 50-megapixel GIF needs hundreds of megabytes of memory while it converts. A desktop handles that; a low-memory phone may not. Files over 25 MB are refused outright.

    Frequently asked questions

    Does converting a GIF to AVIF keep the animation?

    No — AVIF stills cannot hold animation, so this tool saves the first frame only, exactly like XConvert and Fylo do. The file card shows the frame count, so you can see how many frames the GIF had. If you need the animation, keep the GIF — or use our GIF to JPG converter to extract every frame as stills. Still GIFs convert normally, with nothing lost.

    Is AVIF really smaller than GIF?

    Usually, yes — and by more than WebP. A GIF re-encoded as lossy AVIF at quality 80 is typically 40–60% smaller with no visible difference, because AVIF predicts neighbouring pixels better than GIF does — and this tool shows the before and after size honestly for every file, so you can see the saving instead of taking our word for it. GIF is limited to 256 colours, so it compresses tightly, and at quality 100 the AVIF can be larger than the GIF for tiny flat graphics. If a file comes out bigger, the card says so and you can keep the GIF.

    Is the AVIF output lossless?

    No — this tool's AVIF output is always lossy. The quality slider (50 to 100, default 80) trades file size against detail, and at 80 the result is visually identical to the original for almost every image. Quality 100 is visually near-lossless but not pixel-perfect. There is deliberately no lossless toggle: the vendored encoder's lossless mode produces greyscale files — a colour image comes back without its colour — so offering it would silently destroy your images. If you need every pixel exactly, use our GIF to PNG converter instead — PNG is lossless. Keep your GIF as the master copy and use AVIF as the published version.

    Why is AVIF encoding so slow?

    Because AVIF squeezes harder than any other web format. The AV1 encoder searches far more ways to pack each image into fewer bytes, and that search takes time — roughly 5–10 seconds for a large photo on a typical laptop, where the same image becomes a JPG almost instantly. The batch converts one file at a time so the page stays responsive, and each file card shows how long its encode took. The smaller file is the payoff: typically 40–60% smaller than the GIF at the same visual quality.

    What happens if my browser can't run the AVIF encoder?

    Conversion is disabled, and the page says so plainly — there is no fallback that produces a different format. Unlike WebP, AVIF cannot be encoded with the browser's built-in canvas encoder: canvas toBlob with image/avif is not reliably available, and Safari cannot encode AVIF at all. Some converters quietly fall back to WebP and hand you a WebP file with an .avif name; this tool never does that. If you see the unavailable banner, try a current version of Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari — or use our GIF to JPG converter instead, which works everywhere.

    What happens to transparency when I convert a GIF to AVIF?

    It is preserved, never flattened: AVIF has a real alpha channel, so the GIF's transparent pixels stay see-through in the AVIF — the preview sits on a checkerboard so you can see exactly which areas are transparent. There is no background picker and no flattening anywhere on this tool, because nothing needs flattening: GIF's 1-bit transparency becomes AVIF alpha directly. If you need a solid background instead, convert to JPG, which flattens transparency onto a colour you pick.

    Can I share the AVIF on Discord, a forum or by email?

    Usually, yes. Every current browser displays AVIF, and Discord, most forums, Slack and WhatsApp accept it — though a few older upload forms and apps still only accept JPG or PNG, so check the destination first. Use the destination presets if the app has an upload size limit: website heroes aim for under 300 KB, blog images under 150 KB, and Discord or forum uploads under 256 KB. The presets aim for the target, they do not guarantee it — the tool reports the size it actually reached. Note the difference between viewing and encoding: the preview needs a browser that displays AVIF, so on a very old browser the preview may stay blank while the downloaded file is perfectly valid.

    Will the AVIF be bigger than the GIF?

    Sometimes. GIF is limited to 256 colours, so it compresses flat graphics tightly, while AVIF stores smooth colour and photographic detail — a tiny flat-colour GIF may convert to an AVIF larger than the source GIF, especially at quality 100. That is normal, not a defect: the quality slider (50–100, default 80) controls the trade-off, and the tool tells you the size on each file instead of hiding it. Try a lower quality, or keep the GIF for very small flat graphics.

    Is there a file size or daily limit?

    There is no daily limit and no account. A 25 MB safety cap applies per file and 20 files per batch, because decoding large images in the browser is memory-heavy and AVIF encoding takes a few seconds per image. Most GIFs saved from the web are well under 5 MB, far below the cap. Very large images also depend on your device's memory — the encoder runs entirely on your device, so a low-memory phone will struggle with a 50-megapixel GIF where a desktop will not.