AVIF converter: why I built one and what I learned

Large images slow down websites, frustrate users, and hurt SEO. Modern formats like AVIF promise smaller sizes with better quality, but the ecosystem is still young. I decided to explore AVIF and build my own converter to see what works in practice. Why AVIF AVIF images can be 50–70% smaller than JPEG or PNG at similar or better visual quality. This means faster loading times, lower bandwidth, and improved PageSpeed scores. Yet, support for AVIF in editing tools and converters is still limited, which makes it hard for developers and content creators. Why I built my own converter Existing tools are either slow, require file uploads (privacy concerns), or are paid. I wanted a converter that is fast, privacy-first, and free. That led me to create Convertify. Tech stack Rust for performance-critical processing libvips as a high-speed image processing backend Next.js SSG for static landing pages and SEO Challenges AVIF encoding is slower than JPEG/PNG Browser compatibility is still patchy U