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Image MIME Reference
AVIF

AV1 Image File Format

image/avif
VS

DVB Subtitle

image/vnd.dvb.subtitle
DVB-SUB

A complete technical comparison of AV1 Image File Format and DVB Subtitle — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

AVIF wins on browser support

Feature Support

Feature AVIF DVB-SUB
Transparency (Alpha) Yes Yes
Animation Support Yes ✕ No
Progressive Loading ✕ No ✕ No
HDR Support Yes ✕ No
EXIF Metadata Yes ✕ No
ICC Color Profile Yes ✕ No
AV1 Image File Format
image/avif
Extension
.avif
Container HEIF / ISOBMFF
Compression AV1 Lossy / AV1 Lossless
Algorithm
AV1
Color Depth 8-bit, 10-bit, 12-bit
Developed by Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia)
Released 2019
Magic Bytes
XX XX XX XX 66 74 79 70 61 76 69 66
Full AVIF reference →
DVB Subtitle
image/vnd.dvb.subtitle
Extension
.sub.sup.ts
Container MPEG-2 Transport Stream (MPEG-TS) PES Packets
Compression Lossless (Run-Length Encoding)
Algorithm
RLE (Run-Length Encoding)
Color Depth 2-bit (Indexed), 4-bit (Indexed), 8-bit (Indexed CLUT)
Developed by DVB Project (ETSI)
Released 1997
Magic Bytes
20
Full DVB-SUB reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser AVIF DVB-SUB
Chrome Chrome
✓ 85+
 ✕
Firefox Firefox
✓ 93+
 ✕
Safari Safari
✓ 16+
 ✕
Edge Edge
✓ 121+
 ✕
IE IE (Legacy)
✕ ✕
AVIF

AVIF Strengths

  • Best-in-class compression — typically 20–50% smaller than WebP at equivalent quality
  • Native HDR and wide color gamut (BT.2020) support
  • Supports 8, 10, and 12-bit color depth
Limitations
  • Encoding is highly CPU-intensive — significantly slower than JPEG or WebP
  • Requires Edge 121+ (not supported in earlier Edge versions)
  • Limited support in native desktop image viewers
DVB-SUB

DVB-SUB Strengths

  • Guarantees 100% accurate visual representation (fonts, colors, layouts) exactly as intended by the broadcaster
  • Effortlessly supports complex character sets (e.g., Arabic, Asian languages) without relying on the client device possessing the necessary fonts
  • Supports region-specific dynamic positioning to avoid obscuring important on-screen graphics or burned-in lower thirds
Limitations
  • Requires significantly more bandwidth than text-based subtitles
  • Inaccessible to screen readers and cannot be indexed by search engines
  • Requires OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to translate back into standard text-based web formats
  • Zero native support in HTML5 video elements

When to choose which format

AVIF
Use AVIF when…
  • Next-Gen Websites
  • HDR Photography
  • High-Quality Web Images
DVB-SUB
Use DVB-SUB when…
  • Digital Television Broadcasts (DVB-T, DVB-S, DVB-C)
  • IPTV and OTT Streaming
  • Hardware Set-top Boxes

More comparisons

AVIF vs ACES → DVB-SUB vs ACES → AVIF vs APNG → DVB-SUB vs APNG → AVIF vs AVCI → DVB-SUB vs AVCI → AVIF vs AVCS → DVB-SUB vs AVCS → All comparisons →
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