WordPress added native AVIF support in version 6.5 (March 2024), but converting your existing JPEG and PNG libraries requires a plugin. Which plugin you choose makes a huge difference in how much it taxes your server, how long conversion takes, and whether it actually works reliably on large image libraries.
Imagify on shared hosting: A small business blog with a few thousand images used Imagify on basic shared hosting (2GB RAM, 2 CPU cores). Bulk conversion took most of the afternoon without crashing the site. Largest Contentful Paint dropped significantly on mobile—from over 4 seconds to under 3. The downside? Imagify automatically backs up originals, which doubled their storage and forced a hosting plan upgrade.
ShortPixel for high-volume e-commerce: A WooCommerce store with tens of thousands of product images went with ShortPixel because it processes through their API instead of your server. Site kept running smoothly for visitors while images converted in the background over several days. The payoff? Image bandwidth dropped significantly, saving them real money on CDN costs every month.
Converter for Media on VPS: A photography magazine with thousands of high-res images on a VPS (8GB RAM, 4 cores) used Converter for Media Pro to process everything locally. Bulk conversion finished overnight during off-peak hours. A small percentage failed because of specific EXIF metadata issues—they had to manually identify those files, strip the metadata, and try again.
Common pitfalls: Try bulk AVIF conversion on cheap shared hosting and you'll probably violate CPU limits, which can get your site throttled or even suspended. Most plugins keep your original files alongside the AVIF versions for fallback purposes, so you're using double the storage. Some plugins fail silently on certain images without telling you why, so you have to manually check random samples to make sure everything actually converted.
If you're running WordPress and need PNG versions of your AVIF images—for editing, backups, or compatibility with older systems—this converter fits right into your workflow. Convert everything locally to PNG, then upload those files to WordPress where you know they'll work with every theme, plugin, and integration without issues.