PCX to AVIF Converter
Processing entirely on your device — large files may take a moment.
PCX was THE DOS-era image format: ZSoft Paintbrush's RLE-compressed raster that every 1990s game, scanner and clipart CD shipped in. Simple enough that its spec fits on one page. AVIF delivers the smallest files at top visual quality for modern websites — it is supported by all current browsers.
iLoveConverter processes everything locally on your computer, which makes it private and fast: no upload wait, no server storage, no limits. Add as many files as you like — batch conversion is built in.
How to convert PCX to AVIF
- 1
Select your files
Drag & drop your PCX files onto the area above, or click to browse. You can add multiple files at once for batch conversion.
- 2
Convert instantly
Click "Convert to AVIF". The conversion runs entirely inside your browser using WebAssembly — no upload, no queue, no waiting.
- 3
Download results
Download each converted AVIF file individually, or grab everything at once as a ZIP archive.
About the PCX format
PCX was the image format of the DOS decade: ZSoft Paintbrush's run-length-encoded raster that every scanner, game and clipart CD adopted because it was published, simple and fast on 286 hardware. The header is a fixed 128 bytes, the palette hides in the final 769, and the whole file can be decoded by one while-loop.
Retro gaming archives and 90s clipart collections are full of PCX files. Converting them to PNG or JPG finally makes them viewable — the pixels were always fine, the container was just ancient.
+ Strengths
- ✓Decoded by a single RLE loop — no dependencies
- ✓Ubiquitous in DOS-era archives
- ✓Supports paletted and 24-bit variants
! Limitations
- −Effectively dead since Windows 95
- −Rows padded — some files have alignment quirks
- −256-color ceiling for most real-world files
About the AVIF format
AVIF wraps AV1 intra-frame coding inside a HEIF container, championed by Netflix and the Alliance for Open Media. It is currently the compression king of still images: at typical web sizes it beats JPG and WebP visibly, it inherits 10/12-bit color, HDR and wide gamut from its video heritage, and it animates. Being AV1-based, it is royalty-free.
The trade-off is encoding cost: AVIF encoding is genuinely slow in software, which matters for build pipelines and batch jobs. Support is solid in every current browser (Safari since 16.4, Chrome since 85), while many native apps and older photo tools still shrug at it.
+ Strengths
- ✓Best-in-class compression at web sizes
- ✓HDR, 10/12-bit color and wide gamut supported
- ✓Royalty-free (AV1) and animation-capable
! Limitations
- −Encoding is slow, especially in software
- −Native app and photo-tool support still maturing
- −No progressive decoding
Why convert PCX to AVIF?
Think of it as moving your file to the container that fits the job. Effectively dead since Windows 95 AVIF works differently: Best-in-class compression at web sizes If any of that sounds like your task, run the conversion — it takes seconds and nothing leaves your device.
Frequently asked questions
Is this PCX to AVIF converter really free?
Yes — completely free, with no sign-up, no watermark and no daily conversion limits. The site is supported by advertising.
Are my files uploaded to a server?
No. The conversion runs entirely inside your browser using WebAssembly, so your files never leave your device — that is what makes it instant and private.
Does it work on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android?
Yes. Anything with a modern browser works: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS. No software installation is required.
Will converting PCX to AVIF reduce quality?
AVIF uses lossy compression, so a small amount of recompression is unavoidable. The quality slider lets you choose between maximum fidelity and smallest file size — the default is visually indistinguishable for photos.
Will transparent areas survive the conversion to AVIF?
Transparency is kept whenever AVIF actually supports an alpha channel. If the target format has none (like JPG), transparent areas are flattened onto a white background — that is a property of the format, not of this tool.
Can I convert several PCX files at once?
Yes — drop as many files as you like into the tool and they are converted in one batch. When more than one file comes out, everything is bundled into a ZIP for a single download.