Payments are experiencing issues due to temporary restrictions in Russia. If your payment does not go through, please submit a support request.Our support team is available 24/7 — we are always here to help with hosting and server issues.We are now accepting requests for dedicated server rental and colocation services in our data center.Reminder: we recommend enabling backups for additional data protection.A new VPS/VDS lineup with NVMe storage and improved performance is now available.Maintenance work on some servers has been completed. All services are operating normally.
Article3 min read

AVIF in Skyshop for 1C-Bitrix: What to Check Before Compressing Catalog Photos

Skyshop has added experimental AVIF support. While this new format can reduce photo file sizes, the actual results depend on server capabilities, source images, and store settings.

Photographer shooting a leather handbag by a window in a small studio
In this article

A large catalog can load a buyer's phone with photos before they even select a product, especially if the site serves heavy originals for small thumbnails. This is why image format updates matter to store owners as much as a new design.

On September 21, 2026, Skyshop 2.0.2 for 1C-Bitrix introduced experimental AVIF support, provided the server supports it. The experimental status is critical: enabling the format should begin with testing, not mass regeneration of all images.

What the Buyer Loses During Compression

A small file size is not a good result on its own. For clothing, texture and fabric color matter; for furniture, seams and upholstery shade are key; for electronics, connectors must be visible. If these details disappear, the store saves bandwidth at the expense of product information.

Select several complex source images: dark objects, fine patterns, shiny surfaces, and translucent materials. Compare the images at the sizes a user actually sees: in the catalog, on the product card, and in the zoomed view. A single beautiful sample tells you nothing about the entire assortment.

I would keep originals separate from derived files. This allows quality adjustments without reshooting and prevents error accumulation from repeated recompression.

The server also has work to do.

Verifying format support involves more than just the file extension. It is crucial to understand how the server decodes and converts images, the resource cost of the operation, and how errors are handled. Bulk processing during synchronization with the accounting system can create unnecessary task queues.

First, process a limited selection on a test copy. Measure thumbnail generation time, output size, and system load. Then ensure the catalog does not regenerate the same image every time a page is opened.

For incompatible clients or conversion failures, a reliable fallback is essential. A blank rectangle for a product is worse than a heavier photo. Also check images in product exports, newsletters, and previews, as they may use different processing paths.

The format cannot fix incorrect dimensions.

If a tile a few hundred pixels wide receives a massive source image, first configure appropriate dimensions. Lazy loading for images below the fold and a reasonable number of images in the list can also yield significant performance gains.

After a trial implementation, compare the page weight and the time it takes for key product photos to appear on a standard mobile connection. Evaluate both image quality and loading speed. Effective optimization remains invisible to the buyer: they see a detailed product card and can start selecting items faster.

Discussion0

Share your experience and ask questions. Comments without links appear after editorial review.

No comments yet. Start the discussion.