David Degner

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.
GitHub Repository: <a href="https://github.com/ddegner/avif-local-support" rel="nofollow ugc">https://github.com/ddegner/avif-local-support</a>
<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>
For local JPEG→AVIF conversion you need either Imagick with AVIF-enabled ImageMagick, or GD with AVIF support:
<ul>
<li>
Imagick path (recommended)
<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>
GD path (fallback)
<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>
Helpful extras
<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>
Official documentation: 
– PHP Imagick installation: https://www.php.net/imagick 
– PHP GD installation (AVIF details): https://www.php.net/manual/en/image.installation.php 
– ImageMagick format support (AVIF/HEIF): https://imagemagick.org/script/formats.php 
– Apache MIME configuration: https://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/mod/mod_mime.html 
– Nginx MIME configuration: https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_types_module.html

AVIF Local Support

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

WordPress.org

This plugin adds WebP and AVIF support for media uploads within the WordPress application. By default, AVIF images will be generated if supported on the hosting server, otherwise WebP will be used as the output format. When both formats are available, the output format can be selected under <code>Settings > Media</code>. Modern images will be generated only for new uploads, pre-existing images will only converted to a modern format if images are regenerated. Images can be regenerated with a plugin like <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/regenerate-thumbnails/" rel="ugc">Regenerate Thumbnails</a> or via WP-CLI with the <code>wp media regenerate</code> <a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/cli/commands/media/regenerate/" rel="nofollow ugc">command</a>.
By default, only modern image format sub-sizes will be generated for JPEG or PNG uploads – only the original uploaded file will still exist as a JPEG/PNG image, generated image sizes will be WebP or AVIF files. To change this behavior, there is a checkbox in <code>Settings > Media</code> “Output fallback images” that – when checked – will result in the plugin generating both the original format as well as WebP or AVIF images for every sub-size (noting again that this will only affect newly uploaded images, i.e. after making said change).
This plugin was formerly known as WebP Uploads.

Modern Image Formats


I love that it doesn't force you to generate all image sizes of the original format and avif, but just does the avif (or webp if you choose that). It would be really nice if it could rework old images, and maybe even modify the database to match. But still, excellent and should be installed first thing on all new WP sites in my opinion.


Easiest way to get AVIF images


Thanks for developing this plugin!It's my #1 plugin for image optimization!


So far so good!

Converts images to more modern formats such as WebP or AVIF during upload.

AVIF Local Support vs Modern Image Formats