# Should you serve AVIF images on your Shopify store? | Storefront Speed Journal

Source: https://storefrontspeedjournal.com/blog/2026-09-27-shopify-avif-images-worth-it.html

Sep 27, 2026 - Storefront Speed Journal


AVIF is the best image format most stores are not using. At the same visual quality it produces files roughly 30 percent smaller than WebP and half the size of JPEG, which sounds like free performance. The catch is that image weight is only one side of the equation. Decode cost on low-end phones, encoding time, and what your CDN actually serves all matter, and on Shopify the answers are more nuanced than the format benchmarks suggest.

## Where the savings are real

For photographic product images, the compression advantage of AVIF is well documented. Independent tests at matched quality scores consistently show AVIF beating WebP by 20 to 40 percent on file size, with the gap widest on detailed photos: fabric textures, lifestyle shots, anything with fine grain. On a product page with eight large images, that can mean several hundred kilobytes less to download, which shows up directly in LCP on slow connections.

The benefit concentrates where images are heaviest. Hero banners, lookbook galleries, and collection grids with large thumbnails are where AVIF earns its keep. Small UI icons and logos barely register either way, so there is no reason to convert your whole asset library on day one. Start with the images that dominate your page weight.

## The decode cost problem

Smaller files are not free. AVIF decoding is computationally heavier than WebP or JPEG, and on low-end Android phones, the devices a large share of mobile shoppers actually use, decode time can eat a meaningful part of the download savings. A file that arrives 200 milliseconds sooner but takes 150 milliseconds longer to decode is a marginal win, not a transformation.

This is why the format decision should be driven by field data, not lab benchmarks. If your customer base skews toward recent iPhones, AVIF is close to a pure win. If a large share of revenue comes from budget Android devices on 4G, test before committing. Measure LCP on real devices with real formats, not just byte counts on a spreadsheet.

## What Shopify actually serves

Shopify's CDN already does format negotiation for images served through its image URL parameters. Depending on the request, the same image URL can deliver WebP or AVIF to browsers that support them, which means many stores are already getting some of these benefits without doing anything. Before you build an AVIF pipeline, check what your storefront is actually serving today.

Open your product page, inspect the largest images, and look at the response content type. If the CDN is already handing out modern formats, your remaining gains are in sizing, not formats: responsive srcsets, correct dimensions, and not shipping 2400-pixel images to 390-pixel screens. Format is the last 20 percent of image optimization, not the first.

## Encoding and workflow costs

AVIF encoding is slow. Converting a catalog of thousands of product images takes real compute time, and if your workflow re-encodes on every theme change or re-upload, the cost recurs. For stores that upload a few images a week this is a non-issue. For stores with large catalogs and frequent shoots, the encoding bill deserves a line in the calculation.

There is also a quality-control tax. AVIF's efficiency comes with more aggressive encoding decisions, and at low quality settings it can smear fine detail in ways WebP does not. Product photography where texture matters, think knitwear, leather grain, cosmetics swatches, needs visual review at the quality setting you choose, not just a PSNR number.

## The practical verdict

For most Shopify stores, the right move is to verify what the CDN already serves, fix image sizing first, and then convert the heaviest photographic images to AVIF with visual quality checks. The format is genuinely better, but its advantage is bounded by decode cost on cheap phones and by the fact that your CDN may already be doing the easy part. Treat AVIF as one item in an image performance program, not as the program.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is AVIF and why is it smaller?

AVIF is a newer image format that compresses photographs more efficiently than JPEG or WebP at comparable quality, so files are smaller for the same visual result. The savings are largest on detailed photographic images, which is why product photography is the obvious candidate.

### What is the catch with AVIF on Shopify?

Two: decoding AVIF costs more device processing, which can hurt responsiveness on low end phones, and the platform and theme tooling decides what is actually served, so a store may not control the format mix directly. Measure real device behavior, not just file sizes.

### Should I switch everything to AVIF?

Not blindly. Where the platform serves it with proper fallbacks, AVIF is a sensible default for photographs. The win is real but modest next to removing oversized images entirely, so image discipline still outranks format chasing.