RAW and AVIF explained
A camera RAW file is the sensor's unprocessed readout, plus the camera's settings as metadata. It is not really an image yet: it has to be developed, which is why the same RAW can produce very different-looking photos.
AVIF stores still images using the AV1 video codec's intra-frame compression. It generally achieves the smallest files of any widely supported format, and it handles wide colour gamut and HDR, which JPEG cannot.
- Where RAW files come from
- Interchangeable-lens cameras and phones shooting in professional mode.
- Where AVIF is used
- Performance-focused websites and modern image pipelines.