Convert AVIF Images to PNG for Compatibility

Decodes AVIF with your browser and re-encodes it as lossless PNG, so images in the newest format open in software that has not caught up yet. Converts a batch at once, without uploading anything.

About the AVIF to PNG Converter

AVIF is the newest of the mainstream image formats, and it produces remarkably small files for their quality — which is why websites and modern cameras have started using it. The problem is everything that has not been updated recently: older photo editors, established design software, content systems, and plenty of desktop applications simply do not recognise an AVIF and will refuse to open it. Converting to PNG solves that, because PNG is understood by essentially everything.

The tool takes AVIF files and produces PNG. There is no quality setting, because PNG is lossless — the pixels decoded from the AVIF are written to the PNG unchanged. Add one file or a whole batch, convert, and receive PNGs with matching names, bundled into a ZIP when there is more than one.

Key Features

  • Lossless PNG output: The pixels decoded from the AVIF are preserved exactly in the PNG, so nothing is degraded in the conversion — only the container changes.
  • Transparency carried across: AVIF supports an alpha channel and so does PNG, so a transparent AVIF stays transparent rather than gaining a background.
  • Batch conversion: Add several AVIF files and each is converted, returned together as a ZIP.
  • Opens the format editors reject: PNG is the universal fallback, understood by every image editor and viewer, which is the whole reason to convert away from AVIF.
  • No quality decision: Because PNG cannot lose data, there is nothing to configure — the result is fixed rather than chosen.
  • Converted on your device: Decoding and PNG encoding both happen in the browser, so an image is not uploaded to a service to be converted.

How to Use the AVIF to PNG Converter

  1. Add one or more .avif files.
  2. Press Convert Now.
  3. Download the PNG, or the ZIP if you converted several.

How It Works

Decoding relies on the browser's native AVIF support. Current versions of Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Safari all decode AVIF, so on an up-to-date browser this is reliable — but a genuinely old browser that predates AVIF support will fail with a message that the image could not be decoded. Since the reason to convert is usually to escape newness, and the person doing it is generally on a current browser, this is rarely a problem in practice.

Two things are worth knowing about what does not survive. AVIF can store high dynamic range and wide-gamut colour, and the conversion works in standard eight-bit colour, so an HDR AVIF is tone-mapped down to standard range rather than preserved — invisible for ordinary web images, relevant for professional HDR work. And AVIF can hold an image sequence, a short animation like an animated GIF; only the first frame is converted, since PNG is a still format.

The output is also, predictably, much larger than the AVIF. AVIF's efficiency is the point of the format, and PNG does not compress photographs anywhere near as tightly, so expect a photo-heavy AVIF to grow substantially as a PNG. That is the cost of compatibility.

When You Need It

A designer downloads reference images that a stock site now serves as AVIF, and the design application on their studio machine — a version the company has standardised on and will not upgrade this year — will not import them. Converting to PNG lets the work proceed. Since the references form part of an unreleased campaign, converting them locally keeps the project off any external service.

Someone assembling evidence for a dispute saves images from a modern website that delivers them as AVIF, and the case-management system their solicitor uses only accepts common formats. Converting to PNG makes the images admissible into that system, and doing it on their own machine keeps material relevant to a live matter out of a third party's hands.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I lose quality converting AVIF to PNG?
No. PNG is lossless, so the pixels decoded from the AVIF are written to the PNG exactly. The image looks identical; only the file size and format change. What you cannot do is recover quality the AVIF itself had already compressed away — the PNG faithfully preserves whatever the AVIF contained.
Why is the PNG so much bigger than the AVIF?
Because AVIF is an exceptionally efficient format and PNG is not, particularly for photographs. AVIF was designed to store good-looking images in tiny files, and converting to the universally compatible PNG gives that efficiency up. The size increase is the price of being able to open the image everywhere.
My animated AVIF only converted one frame.
AVIF can hold an image sequence, but PNG is a still format, so only the first frame is taken. If you need the animation, converting to an animated format such as GIF is the route — a still PNG cannot represent motion.
The conversion failed and said the image could not be decoded.
Your browser is too old to decode AVIF. Support arrived in recent versions of all the major browsers, so updating your browser, or using a current one, resolves it. This is a browser limitation rather than a problem with the file.
Are my AVIF files uploaded to be converted?
No. The AVIF is decoded by your browser and re-encoded as PNG through the canvas, both in this tab. Nothing is sent anywhere, which matters when the images are part of unreleased work or a confidential matter rather than something already public.
Does transparency survive the conversion?
Yes. Both AVIF and PNG support an alpha channel, so a transparent AVIF converts to a transparent PNG with the transparency intact. Nothing is flattened onto a background, unlike a conversion to JPG.