David Degner

<p>AVIF Local Support adds modern AVIF image support to WordPress while keeping compatibility with existing JPEG media.  Built by a <a href="https://www.daviddegner.com" rel="nofollow ugc">Boston photographer</a> who needs it for their own portfolio website.</p>
<p><strong>GitHub Repository:</strong> <a href="https://github.com/ddegner/avif-local-support" rel="nofollow ugc">https://github.com/ddegner/avif-local-support</a></p>
<ul>
<li>Local-first: all processing happens on your own server — no external calls.  Works well for me on a shared CPU with 2GB of RAM on Linode.</li>
<li>Image quality first: uses Imagick PHP and CLI when available for high-quality resizing (LANCZOS), corrects EXIF orientation, and preserves ICC color profiles and EXIF/XMP/IPTC metadata when possible.</li>
<li>Tunable quality and speed: set AVIF quality (0–100) and encoder speed (0–10) to balance fidelity and performance.  You can even adjust choose chroma subsampling (4:2:0, 4:2:2, 4:4:4) and bit depth (8/10/12-bit). Defaults: 4:2:0 and 8-bit if your server supports it and you want higher quality images.</li>
<li>Wraps existing <code><img></code> tags in <code><picture></code> with an AVIF <code><source></code> when an <code>.avif</code> version is present.</li>
<li>Converts JPEG originals and generated sizes to AVIF on upload, or via a daily/background scan.</li>
<li>Preserves EXIF/XMP/IPTC metadata and ICC color profiles by default (when using ImageMagick/Imagick).</li>
<li>WordPress-aware resizing logic enabled by default to avoid double-resizing when generating AVIF sizes from originals.
<ul>
<li>Tools include: convert missing AVIFs, upload a test JPEG, and delete all AVIF files in uploads.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>How it works</h4>
<ul>
<li>Front end: Filters common image outputs to add an AVIF <code><source></code> ahead of the original JPEG. Browsers that support AVIF will use it; others fall back to JPEG.</li>
<li>Conversion: Uses Imagick when available (preferred) — with auto-orientation and LANCZOS resizing — or GD with an AVIF encoder. Quality, speed, chroma subsampling, and bit depth are configurable (subsampling/bit depth applied via Imagick when supported).</li>
<li>Scheduling: Optional daily scan to backfill missing <code>.avif</code> files for existing JPEGs.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Requirements</h4>
<ul>
<li>PHP 8.0 or later (8.1+ recommended)</li>
<li>WordPress 6.5 or later</li>
<li>Imagick PHP extension recommended for best quality and metadata/ICC preservation. GD fallback supported.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Ubuntu/Debian setup (summary)</h3>
<p>For local JPEG<span aria-hidden="true" class="wp-exclude-emoji">→</span>AVIF conversion you need either Imagick with AVIF-enabled ImageMagick, or GD with AVIF support:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Imagick path (recommended)</p>
<ul>
<li>PHP extension: imagick</li>
<li>System libraries: ImageMagick built with HEIF/AVIF support (via libheif)</li>
<li>Notes: This path enables higher-quality resizing and preserves metadata/ICC profiles</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<p>GD path (fallback)</p>
<ul>
<li>PHP extension: gd built with AVIF support (provides <code>imageavif</code> on PHP 8.1+)</li>
<li>Notes: Ensure your distro’s PHP GD is compiled with AVIF; some builds omit it</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<p>Helpful extras</p>
<ul>
<li>PHP exif extension (for orientation handling in the GD fallback)</li>
<li>Web server configured to serve <code>.avif</code> as <code>image/avif</code> (Apache/Nginx/LiteSpeed)</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Official documentation:<br />
– PHP Imagick installation: https://www.php.net/imagick<br />
– PHP GD installation (AVIF details): https://www.php.net/manual/en/image.installation.php<br />
– ImageMagick format support (AVIF/HEIF): https://imagemagick.org/script/formats.php<br />
– Apache MIME configuration: https://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/mod/mod_mime.html<br />
– Nginx MIME configuration: https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_types_module.html</p>


AVIF Local Support

AVIF support for converting and serving high quality photos. Built by a photographer, not trying to sell subscriptions.

AVIF Local Support vs ShortPixel Adaptive Images – WebP, AVIF, CDN, Image Optimization