PSP and .avif format

[Ken Berry]

I happened to come upon an image this morning which uses the .avif format. I have to confess I had never heard of it before, though on looking it up, I find that it has been around for a couple of years. For those who don't know it, it stands for AV1 Image File (AVIF) format. I was not particularly surprised to find that PSP 2023 could not open it. I got an error message: "Unable to open the file. Please verify that the file is valid." Maybe all this has already been raised and discussed here. If so, then I am sorry to be repeating things...

I tried the inbuild Paint program which comes with Windows 11, and it too could not open it. I then tried the very simple Photos app which also comes with Windows 11. That too would not open the file, but at least gave me the useful information that I needed to install the AV1 Extension. It kindly opened Windows Store for me, and I downloaded and installed the Extension.

On looking further at the format, I saw that there was some kind of relation between it and HEIF, the image equivalent of HEVC for video. As I understand it, PSP still has problems with HEIF. I had already installed the HEVC Extension (to get VideoStudio working on that type of video) at least a couple of years ago. So I am naturally wondering what, if anything, might be happening with PSP and HEIF/.avif. And does installation of the AV1 Extension amount to installing the HEIF Extension or did that happen when I installed the HEVC Extension?

I was also naturally wondering if installing the AV1 Extension might have changed things with PSP being able to open .avif files. However, PSP2023 still can't open my one .avif sample, yet simple Photos now has no trouble with them. Moreover, Paint also cannot open them, but I have found that Paint.Net can open them. Even stranger, when I have Paint open and browse to find the file, File Explorer does not even show a blank symbol for the avif sample -- there is just nothing there! Yet with Paint.Net open, when I browse for the file, a proper thumbnail with image is in File Explorer for me to choose and open.

All a bit weird -- or is there some other Microsoft or other image Extension which I don't know about? That wouldn't surprise me at all!!

[patara]

Back in October I downloaded the AviFormat x64 8bi plugin from Github and added it to my PSP2023 Plugin folder and after that I've been able to open all avif files and also save in the avif format.

[Radim]

Back in October I downloaded the AviFormat x64 8bi plugin from Github and added it to my PSP2023 Plugin folder and after that I've been able to open all avif files and also save in the avif format.

Is there some link?

Does it works in 64bit of PSP? Thanks.

[Ken Berry]

I tracked down that file, and installed it in C:\Program Files\Corel\Plugins, and after that PSP could both see and open the avif file. I found the file(s) both 64 and 32 bit, on https://github.com/0xC0000054/avif-format/releases So a big "thank you" to Patara!! Just remember that PSP 2023 only comes in the 64 bit version.

[Radim]

I tracked down that file, and installed it in C:\Program Files\Corel\Plugins, and after that PSP could both see and open the avif file. I found the file(s) both 64 and 32 bit, on https://github.com/0xC0000054/avif-format/releases So a big "thank you" to Patara!! Just remember that PSP 2023 only comes in the 64 bit version.

Thank you, Berry.

[patara]

Thanks for searching it out Ken.
Sorry I didn't include the link. I wasn't sure if it was relevant to what you wanted.
I originally downloaded the plugin to open the file type in Photoshop Elements and thought as it worked perfectly in that why not try it in PSP.

[User10232023]

To date I've found AVIF format to be very-reminiscent of the Tiff format in 90s depending on image viewer used.
For example Viewer-G might show some colours slightly darker (ie. light pastel blue) when compared to Viewer-K. Meanwhile that same file opens in another viewer like Viewer-I but is completely black.
It all depends on the save file's AVIF version along with what save settings were selected for the profile, bit depth, loop restoration and if monochrome.
That example has happened the other way around to me too so if your avif file doesn't look right to you, then try another image viewer to doublecheck.

That said, I hadn't opened avif in the recent weeks since using new PSP, so I'm adding it to my plugins and many thanks for the info & link!