Format and codec support matrix

Before choosing input and output formats, establish one core fact: reads depend on the loaders compiled into libvips; writes depend on native exporters. Format support is a property of the runtime libvips build rather than the language binding alone.

Export capability of the reference binding (libvips 8.17.3 / govips v2.19.0)

govips ImageRef offers these Export* methods, representing libvips 8.17.3 native write support (checked against the v2.19.0 source):

Export format	Method
JPEG	ExportJpeg
PNG	ExportPng
WebP	ExportWebp
AVIF	ExportAvif
HEIF	ExportHeif
GIF	ExportGIF
TIFF	ExportTiff
JPEG 2000	ExportJp2k
JPEG XL	ExportJxl
Other (ImageMagick)	ExportMagick

Read support and Go fallback boundaries

Reading is dispatched by header signature via NewImageFromFile / LoadImageFromBuffer / LoadImageFromReader to the loaders compiled into libvips:

• Native read scope = the set of loaders enabled when your runtime libvips was built (inspect with vips -l foreign).
• Go standard-library fallback and built-in registration: govips v2.19.0 already registers Go’s GIF, JPEG, PNG, and golang.org/x/image/webp decoders inside the package. Application code does not need extra _ "image/png" side-effect imports merely to use govips; only application code that calls Go’s image.Decode directly must manage its own decoder registration (see unknown formats and missing codecs).
• Animated and sub-format signatures: older binding releases had incomplete signature checks for some sub-formats such as animated AVIF; verify with the vips CLI first to separate binding detection from libvips loader support.

Quick matrix of common formats

Format	Read (reference)	Write (reference)	Notes
JPEG	Supported	ExportJpeg	Lossy; EXIF and ICC
PNG	Supported	ExportPng	Lossless; alpha
WebP	Supported	ExportWebp	Lossy/lossless; animation and alpha
AVIF	Supported	ExportAvif	Lossy/lossless; version-dependent animation signature detection
HEIF/HEIC	Supported	ExportHeif	Depends on libheif build configuration
GIF	Supported	ExportGIF	Palette format; quality boundary in gif-quality
TIFF	Supported	ExportTiff	Multi-page support
JPEG XL	Supported	ExportJxl	Depends on whether libvips was built with libjxl
JPEG 2000	Supported	ExportJp2k	Depends on whether libvips was built with OpenJPEG
PDF	Read (pdfload)	via magick/native	No dedicated ExportPdf method
BMP	Read-focused	via ExportMagick	May use Go fallback decoder when no native loader is present

This table is based on the reference environment (libvips 8.17.3); sharp 0.35.5’s bundled libvips 8.18.7 depends on its prebuilt configuration, while pyvips and the CLI share the system 8.17.3. Per-format comparisons across the other interfaces are marked comparison-pending.

Related troubleshooting guides

• Animation / multi-page: loading all frames is covered in animation keeps one frame or becomes a tall image; GIF encoding parameters in why GIF Quality has no effect.
• Colour / ICC: CMYK resizing and dropped ICC profiles in colour shifts, missing ICC profiles, and CMYK distortion.
• Unknown formats and missing codecs: layered diagnosis in unknown formats and missing codecs.

When not applicable

• Whether a format is available depends on the libvips build in your target host or container image, not on this handbook’s snapshot alone.
• Do not assume another binding or distribution package enables the exact same codecs by default just because the reference environment supports an export.

Sources

• govips v2.19.0 source (image_export.go, image.go, foreign.go).
• Handbook troubleshooting guides: missing-codec, animation-multi-page, gif-quality, colour-shift.

This page is a version snapshot, reviewed 2026-10-12; format capability varies with the runtime libvips build.