AVIF to JPG: when the future format hits old software

AVIF is the format the web is moving to. It makes files about half the size of JPEG at the same quality, and browser support has been solid for a couple of years now.

But support in browsers isn't the same as support everywhere. About 37,000 searches a month in the US are people trying to turn AVIF files back into JPG. That's a lot of people hitting a wall.

Where AVIF falls over

The wall is always the same shape. You download an AVIF image, or someone sends you one, and the program you actually need to use it in shrugs.

Older photo editors choke on it. Some upload forms list JPG, PNG, and GIF as accepted and reject everything else. Print services mostly don't know AVIF exists. And good luck opening one on a computer that hasn't been updated since 2022.

AVIF encodes slowly too, which is why most people only meet it as a downloaded file, not as something they made on purpose.

The quality question

Converting AVIF to JPG is a one-way trip in one sense: JPG can't hold the HDR and wide-gamut color that AVIF can. In practice, though, most AVIF files floating around are plain SDR photos, and those convert to JPG without anything you'd notice.

The file gets bigger. That's the tax. A 200 KB AVIF becomes a 400-600 KB JPG at high quality. Accept it and move on.

Doing it right

Drop your AVIF file into Jiggle X Wiggle's free image to JPG converter and download the result. Use quality 85 or so if you get a choice, which keeps the file reasonable without visible damage.

One thing to check: make sure you're converting because the destination demands JPG, not out of habit. If the destination accepts AVIF, keep the smaller file.

Practical tip: save the JPG at a slightly higher quality than you think you need. If this JPG gets compressed again later (uploads, email, messaging apps), starting from a cleaner source keeps the second compression from wrecking it.