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Browser support

Browser support measures the percentage of web browsers that can natively display specific image formats without plugins.

What is Browser support?

Browser support refers to the percentage of global web browsers that can natively render a specific image format without requiring plugins or additional software. This compatibility is measured in real-time by services like caniuse.com, which tracks browser version usage across millions of websites. When a browser lacks support for an image format, users see broken images or empty spaces instead of the intended content.

Importance of Browser support

Understanding browser compatibility prevents your images from appearing broken to visitors using older browsers or devices. When you choose image formats with insufficient browser support, a portion of your audience will see empty spaces instead of your photos, damaging user experience and potentially losing customers. Modern formats like WebP (97%+ support) and AVIF (93-95% support) offer superior compression while maintaining broad compatibility.

Browser support in Practice

A photographer uploading portfolio images faces a choice between JPEG (100% browser support), WebP (97% support), and AVIF (93% support). Using AVIF could save 50-60% file size compared to JPEG, but 5-7% of visitors might see broken images. The solution is implementing HTML picture elements that serve AVIF to compatible browsers and fall back to JPEG for older ones, ensuring universal compatibility while maximizing compression benefits.

Browser support Best Practices

  • → Check current browser support percentages on caniuse.com before choosing image formats for web use.
  • → Implement HTML picture elements to provide fallbacks when using newer formats like AVIF or WebP.
  • → Convert HEIC images to web-compatible formats since HEIC has virtually no browser support outside Safari on macOS.

Example of Browser support

An e-commerce site serving AVIF images to reduce loading times finds that 5% of visitors using Internet Explorer 11 and older Safari versions see broken product photos. By implementing picture elements that serve AVIF to modern browsers and JPEG to older ones, they maintain 40% smaller file sizes for 95% of users while ensuring 100% of visitors see functional images.

Related Terms

AVIFWebPJPEG / JPGHEIC / HEIFFormat compatibilityPicture elementContent negotiationCodecFormat

Frequently Asked Questions

What is browser support for image formats?

Browser support for image formats is the percentage of web browsers worldwide that can natively display a specific image format without plugins. JPEG and PNG have 100% support, WebP has 97%+ support, and AVIF has 93-95% support as of 2026. The remaining percentage consists mainly of legacy browsers like Internet Explorer 11 and older mobile browsers.

Do all browsers support WebP images?

No, but 97%+ of browsers now support WebP images natively, making it safe for web use. WebP gained widespread adoption after Safari added support in September 2020. The remaining 3% consists primarily of Internet Explorer 11 and very old mobile browsers that most users have upgraded from.

Which browsers support AVIF and should I use it for my website?

AVIF is supported by 93-95% of browsers including Chrome 85+, Firefox 93+, Safari 16+, and Edge 121+. You can safely use AVIF for web images by implementing HTML picture elements that provide JPEG or WebP fallbacks for the 5-7% of browsers that don't support it yet. This approach gives you AVIF's superior compression for most users while maintaining universal compatibility.