Next.js next/image v4 Switches to AVIF by Default, Catching Teams Off Guard

Next.js 15 ships next/image v4 with AVIF as the default image format, replacing the WebP-first behavior of v3 after AVIF browser support surpassed 90% globally in late 2025. AVIF delivers 20–30% smaller file sizes than WebP at comparable quality, but its 3–5x slower encoding and older-browser compatibility gaps can silently degrade performance for teams that upgrade without adjusting their configuration. The deprecated domains setting must be replaced with the stricter remotePatterns API, and new cache control parameters are needed to prevent disk exhaustion and CDN bypass — changes that are not flagged during the upgrade process. Teams that miss these updates risk slower image load times, broken third-party image sources, and storage failures in production. Developers are advised to explicitly define a formats array and update cache and remote-source settings to maintain stable image optimization after migrating to v4.
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