Can I Use WebP & AVIF in 2026? Browser Support + Free Converter

The quick answer

If you want the one-line verdict for 2026: yes, you can use WebP, and yes, you can use AVIF for web content. WebP sits at roughly 97% global browser support and AVIF at roughly 94%, according to Can I Use. The honest nuance is that “can I use it” depends on whether you control the fallback.

On a website where you serve images with the HTML picture element, you can use both formats today with zero risk, because the browser quietly falls back to a format it understands. On a single standalone file (someone sends you a .webp and you try to open it in an old image viewer) support is narrower, and the fix is simply to convert the file. This guide covers both situations with the exact browser versions and a concrete plan for each.

What “Can I Use” actually answers

The question “can I use WebP” hides two very different questions, and mixing them up is where most confusion comes from.

Question 1: Will a browser display it on my website?

This is the question the famous Can I Use percentages answer. It measures what share of real browser traffic can render a format. For WebP that number is around 97% and for AVIF around 94% in 2026. With a proper fallback the effective number is 100%, because unsupported browsers receive a JPG or PNG instead.

Question 2: Will this specific file open on my device or app?

This is a different world. A browser may decode WebP perfectly while the desktop photo viewer on the same machine refuses it. Email clients, design apps, older operating systems and some content management systems lag behind browsers. For a one-off file the practical answer is not a percentage, it is: convert it to something universal and move on.

WebP browser support in 2026

WebP was created by Google in 2010 and has had more than a decade to spread. The last major browser to adopt it was Safari, in 2020. Today it is effectively a baseline web format. Here is when each major browser started supporting it.

The practical takeaway: if a visitor is on any browser released after 2020, they see WebP with no problem. The only meaningful holdouts are Internet Explorer 11 (well under 0.3% of traffic and declining) and a thin tail of in-app browsers on pre-2020 Android phones. For more on why WebP became the default, see our complete guide to the WebP format.

AVIF browser support in 2026

AVIF is the newer, more efficient format. It compresses better than WebP, often producing files 20 to 30% smaller at the same quality, but it arrived later, so its support curve is a few years behind. The big milestone was Safari 16.1 in late 2022, which brought AVIF to the iPhone. Edge was the last to catch up, in early 2024.

The 94% figure means roughly one in seventeen visitors might be on a device that cannot decode AVIF, usually an older phone that cannot update to a recent OS. That is exactly why AVIF should be served with a fallback rather than on its own. For a deeper comparison of the two formats and JPG, read WebP vs AVIF vs JPEG.

WebP vs AVIF: which is safer to use

If you can only commit to one format with no fallback, WebP is the safer pick in 2026. Its support is wider, more mature, and present on a longer list of older devices. AVIF wins on file size, but those savings only matter if you serve it alongside a fallback so the slice of devices that cannot read it still get an image.

• Pick WebP when you want one modern format, broad support, and a simple pipeline.
• Pick AVIF when squeezing the last bytes matters and you can serve a fallback chain.
• Pick both on any serious website: AVIF first, WebP second, JPG or PNG last.

The fallback that never breaks

On the web you do not have to choose a single format and hope. The HTML picture element lets you list several sources in order of preference. The browser walks the list and uses the first format it supports, so a modern browser gets AVIF, a slightly older one gets WebP, and an ancient one gets the JPG. No broken images, no JavaScript, no user-agent sniffing.

<picture>
  <source srcset="photo.avif" type="image/avif" />
  <source srcset="photo.webp" type="image/webp" />
  <img src="photo.jpg" alt="A descriptive alt text" />
</picture>

This is the single most important pattern for modern image delivery. It means the answer to “can I use AVIF” is effectively always yes, because the fallback covers the gap. The web.dev team explains the reasoning in their images course.

When a single file will not open

The picture element solves websites. It does nothing for the everyday case: a friend sends you a .webp someone downloaded, or a client emails an AVIF, and the app you need to open it in just shrugs. Here the answer is not configuration, it is conversion. Turn the file into a JPG or a PNG, which every operating system, app and device on earth can read.

The catch with most online converters is that they upload your image to a server, process it there, and send it back. That is slow, and it means a stranger's server briefly holds your photo. SammaPix does the conversion in your browser tab using the Canvas API, so the file never leaves your device. Drop it in, pick JPG or PNG, download the result, done. Keep PNG as the target if the original has transparency you need to preserve, because JPG fills transparent areas with a solid color.

WebP and AVIF on iPhone and Android

iPhone and iPad

Any iPhone running iOS 14 or later displays WebP, and any iPhone on iOS 16 or later displays AVIF. Since iOS 16 shipped in 2022 and most active iPhones update within a year or two, the overwhelming majority of Apple devices in 2026 handle both. The exception is very old hardware stuck on iOS 15 or earlier, which still sees WebP but not AVIF.

Android

Android has supported WebP at the system level since Android 4.x and AVIF since Android 12. Chrome for Android and Samsung Internet both decode both formats. The long tail on Android is wider than on iOS because old budget phones linger, which is one more reason to keep a JPG fallback in your delivery chain.

Why an app refuses a file your browser opens

It is genuinely confusing the first time it happens: you double-click a WebP and your image viewer says it cannot open the file, yet the same file loads instantly in your browser. The reason is that browsers ship their own image decoders and update constantly, while desktop apps and operating system viewers rely on older system libraries that update far more slowly.

• Older Windows: Photos and Paint may need a codec add-on for WebP and AVIF.
• Older macOS: Preview handles WebP from Big Sur on, AVIF from Ventura on. Earlier versions do not.
• Design and office apps: some still expect JPG or PNG and reject modern formats.
• Email clients and CMS: many strip or reject WebP and AVIF uploads.

In every one of these cases the fix is the same: convert the file to JPG or PNG once, and it works everywhere. If you also need to shrink it for an upload limit, our guide to compressing images without losing quality walks through the size targets.

When not to use WebP or AVIF

Modern formats are the right default, but there are a few situations where plain JPG or PNG is still the correct choice in 2026.

• Email attachments and signatures: many email clients still render JPG and PNG more reliably than WebP or AVIF.
• Print workflows: print shops and design tools often expect TIFF, PNG or high-quality JPG.
• Platforms that reject the upload: some marketplaces, job boards and legacy CMS only accept JPG or PNG.
• Maximum compatibility, zero effort: if you cannot set up a fallback, a well-compressed JPG just works.

Free browser-based converters (no upload)

Whether you need to create modern formats for your site or rescue a file that will not open, SammaPix has a free converter for it. Every one of these runs entirely in your browser, so your images never touch a server.

• WebP to JPG and AVIF to JPG when a file will not open or a platform rejects it.
• WebP to PNG and AVIF to PNG when you need to keep transparency.
• WebP Converter to create WebP from JPG or PNG for your website.
• Compress to shrink any image to a target size after converting.

For the bigger picture on choosing a format in the first place, see the best image format for the web in 2026.

FAQ

Can I use WebP in 2026?

Yes. WebP has about 97% global browser support. Every current Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, Opera and Samsung Internet renders it, and Safari has supported it since version 14 in 2020. For web content it is effectively universal.

Can I use AVIF in 2026?

Mostly yes, at about 94% support. Serve it with a WebP and JPG fallback using the picture element and you cover 100% of visitors while giving most of them the smallest possible file.

Does Safari support WebP and AVIF?

Yes to both. WebP since Safari 14 (2020) and AVIF since Safari 16.1 (2022). Any iPhone on iOS 16 or later handles both formats.

What happens if a browser does not support the format?

With a picture element the browser falls back to a format it understands, so there is never a broken image. With a single standalone file, convert it to JPG or PNG and it opens anywhere.

Why can I not open a WebP or AVIF on my computer?

Browsers decode these formats, but some desktop apps and older system viewers do not. Convert the file to JPG or PNG with a free in-browser tool and every app will read it.

Is converting WebP or AVIF to JPG lossy?

Converting to JPG is lossy, but at high quality the difference is minimal for a single conversion. JPG has no transparency, so convert to PNG instead if your file has transparent areas you want to keep.

The short version of all of this: in 2026 you can use WebP everywhere and AVIF almost everywhere, and the rare gap is closed by a fallback on the web or a quick conversion for a single file. When you hit a file that will not open, convert it in your browser and move on.