AVIF Mobile Apps 2026: Cut App Size 50% [iOS & Android Guide]

Mobile AVIF Support

Both iOS and Android have added native AVIF support, making it viable for mobile app development.

iOS Implementation

iOS 16+ includes native AVIF decoding through ImageIO framework.

For iOS 15 and earlier, use libraries like SDWebImage or libavif-Xcode to add AVIF support. These libraries integrate seamlessly with existing image loading pipelines.

// Swift: Loading AVIF image
import UIKit

func loadAvifImage(named: String) -> UIImage? {
    guard let url = Bundle.main.url(forResource: named, withExtension: "avif"),
          let data = try? Data(contentsOf: url) else {
        return nil
    }
    return UIImage(data: data)
}

// Async loading from URL
func loadRemoteAvif(from url: URL) async throws -> UIImage {
    let (data, _) = try await URLSession.shared.data(from: url)
    guard let image = UIImage(data: data) else {
        throw ImageError.invalidData
    }
    return image
}

Android Implementation

Android 12+ supports AVIF natively. For older versions, use libraries.

// Kotlin: Loading AVIF with Coil (recommended)
implementation("io.coil-kt:coil:2.5.0")
implementation("io.coil-kt:coil-avif:2.5.0")

// Usage
AsyncImage(
    model = "https://example.com/image.avif",
    contentDescription = "AVIF Image"
)

// Or with ImageLoader configuration
val imageLoader = ImageLoader.Builder(context)
    .components {
        add(AvifDecoder.Factory())
    }
    .build()
Coil.setImageLoader(imageLoader)

Cross-Platform Solutions

For React Native and Flutter, library support enables AVIF across platforms.

React Native: Use react-native-fast-image with native AVIF decoders, or expo-image which includes AVIF support automatically.

Flutter: The flutter_avif package adds AVIF decoding. For broader format support, consider cached_network_image with custom decoders.

• File Size Impact: AVIF significantly reduces app bundle size when replacing JPEG assets. 50-70% savings typical.
• Decode Performance: AVIF decoding is CPU-intensive. Use appropriate image sizing to minimize decode time.
• Caching Strategy: Decode AVIF once and cache the decoded bitmap for repeated display.