diff --git a/libvips/foreign/heifload.c b/libvips/foreign/heifload.c
index 73bceab2..624b73dc 100644
--- a/libvips/foreign/heifload.c
+++ b/libvips/foreign/heifload.c
@@ -146,7 +146,8 @@ void
 vips__heif_error( struct heif_error *error )
 {
 	if( error->code ) 
-		vips_error( "heifload", "%s", error->message ); 
+		vips_error( "heif", "%s (%d.%d)", error->message, error->code,
+			error->subcode );
 }
 
 static const char *heif_magic[] = {
@@ -814,6 +815,8 @@ vips_foreign_load_heif_file_header( VipsForeignLoad *load )
 
 const char *vips__heif_suffs[] = { 
 	".heic",
+	".heif",
+	".avif",
 	NULL 
 };
 
diff --git a/libvips/foreign/heifsave.c b/libvips/foreign/heifsave.c
index f8fea788..b6d22c1e 100644
--- a/libvips/foreign/heifsave.c
+++ b/libvips/foreign/heifsave.c
@@ -65,6 +65,10 @@ typedef struct _VipsForeignSaveHeif {
 	 */
 	gboolean lossless;
 
+	/* Compression format
+	 */
+	VipsForeignHeifCompression compression;
+
 	int page_width;
 	int page_height;
 	int n_pages;
@@ -293,12 +297,15 @@ vips_foreign_save_heif_build( VipsObject *object )
 		build( object ) )
 		return( -1 );
 
-	/* TODO ... should be a param? the other useful one is AVC.
-	 */
 	error = heif_context_get_encoder_for_format( heif->ctx, 
-		heif_compression_HEVC, &heif->encoder );
+		heif->compression, &heif->encoder );
 	if( error.code ) {
-		vips__heif_error( &error );
+		if ( error.code == heif_error_Unsupported_filetype ) {
+			vips_error( "heifsave", "%s", _( "Unsupported compression" ) );
+		}
+		else {
+			vips__heif_error( &error );
+		}
 		return( -1 );
 	}
 
@@ -401,6 +408,14 @@ vips_foreign_save_heif_class_init( VipsForeignSaveHeifClass *class )
 		G_STRUCT_OFFSET( VipsForeignSaveHeif, lossless ),
 		FALSE );
 
+	VIPS_ARG_ENUM( class, "compression", 14,
+		_( "compression" ),
+		_( "Compression format" ),
+		VIPS_ARGUMENT_OPTIONAL_INPUT,
+		G_STRUCT_OFFSET( VipsForeignSaveHeif, compression ),
+		VIPS_TYPE_FOREIGN_HEIF_COMPRESSION,
+		VIPS_FOREIGN_HEIF_COMPRESSION_HEVC );
+
 }
 
 static void
@@ -408,6 +423,7 @@ vips_foreign_save_heif_init( VipsForeignSaveHeif *heif )
 {
 	heif->ctx = heif_context_alloc();
 	heif->Q = 50;
+	heif->compression = VIPS_FOREIGN_HEIF_COMPRESSION_HEVC;
 }
 
 typedef struct _VipsForeignSaveHeifFile {
@@ -580,6 +596,7 @@ vips_foreign_save_heif_buffer_init( VipsForeignSaveHeifBuffer *buffer )
  *
  * * @Q: %gint, quality factor
  * * @lossless: %gboolean, enable lossless encoding
+ * * @compression: use this #VipsForeignHeifCompression
  *
  * Write a VIPS image to a file in HEIF format. 
  *
@@ -588,6 +605,8 @@ vips_foreign_save_heif_buffer_init( VipsForeignSaveHeifBuffer *buffer )
  *
  * Set @lossless %TRUE to switch to lossless compression.
  *
+ * Use @compression to set the encoder e.g. HEVC, AVC, AV1
+ *
  * See also: vips_image_write_to_file(), vips_heifload().
  *
  * Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error.
@@ -616,6 +635,7 @@ vips_heifsave( VipsImage *in, const char *filename, ... )
  *
  * * @Q: %gint, quality factor
  * * @lossless: %gboolean, enable lossless encoding
+ * * @compression: use this #VipsForeignHeifCompression
  *
  * As vips_heifsave(), but save to a memory buffer. 
  *
diff --git a/libvips/include/vips/enumtypes.h b/libvips/include/vips/enumtypes.h
index 87cea5fd..2de73711 100644
--- a/libvips/include/vips/enumtypes.h
+++ b/libvips/include/vips/enumtypes.h
@@ -74,6 +74,8 @@ GType vips_foreign_dz_depth_get_type (void) G_GNUC_CONST;
 #define VIPS_TYPE_FOREIGN_DZ_DEPTH (vips_foreign_dz_depth_get_type())
 GType vips_foreign_dz_container_get_type (void) G_GNUC_CONST;
 #define VIPS_TYPE_FOREIGN_DZ_CONTAINER (vips_foreign_dz_container_get_type())
+GType vips_foreign_heif_compression_get_type (void) G_GNUC_CONST;
+#define VIPS_TYPE_FOREIGN_HEIF_COMPRESSION (vips_foreign_heif_compression_get_type())
 /* enumerations from "../../../libvips/include/vips/image.h" */
 GType vips_demand_style_get_type (void) G_GNUC_CONST;
 #define VIPS_TYPE_DEMAND_STYLE (vips_demand_style_get_type())
diff --git a/libvips/include/vips/foreign.h b/libvips/include/vips/foreign.h
index 6b3ea0a6..eb8a425d 100644
--- a/libvips/include/vips/foreign.h
+++ b/libvips/include/vips/foreign.h
@@ -623,6 +623,23 @@ typedef enum {
 int vips_dzsave( VipsImage *in, const char *name, ... )
 	__attribute__((sentinel));
 
+/**
+ * VipsForeignHeifCompression:
+ * @VIPS_FOREIGN_HEIF_COMPRESSION_HEVC: x265
+ * @VIPS_FOREIGN_HEIF_COMPRESSION_AVC: x264
+ * @VIPS_FOREIGN_HEIF_COMPRESSION_JPEG: jpeg
+ * @VIPS_FOREIGN_HEIF_COMPRESSION_AV1: aom
+ *
+ * The compression format to use inside a HEIF container.
+ */
+typedef enum {
+	VIPS_FOREIGN_HEIF_COMPRESSION_HEVC = 1,
+	VIPS_FOREIGN_HEIF_COMPRESSION_AVC = 2,
+	VIPS_FOREIGN_HEIF_COMPRESSION_JPEG = 3,
+	VIPS_FOREIGN_HEIF_COMPRESSION_AV1 = 4,
+	VIPS_FOREIGN_HEIF_COMPRESSION_LAST
+} VipsForeignHeifCompression;
+
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }
 #endif /*__cplusplus*/
diff --git a/libvips/iofuncs/enumtypes.c b/libvips/iofuncs/enumtypes.c
index d5ba3f3d..6628e3c2 100644
--- a/libvips/iofuncs/enumtypes.c
+++ b/libvips/iofuncs/enumtypes.c
@@ -657,6 +657,26 @@ vips_foreign_dz_container_get_type( void )
 
 	return( etype );
 }
+GType
+vips_foreign_heif_compression_get_type( void )
+{
+	static GType etype = 0;
+
+	if( etype == 0 ) {
+		static const GEnumValue values[] = {
+			{VIPS_FOREIGN_HEIF_COMPRESSION_HEVC, "VIPS_FOREIGN_HEIF_COMPRESSION_HEVC", "hevc"},
+			{VIPS_FOREIGN_HEIF_COMPRESSION_AVC, "VIPS_FOREIGN_HEIF_COMPRESSION_AVC", "avc"},
+			{VIPS_FOREIGN_HEIF_COMPRESSION_JPEG, "VIPS_FOREIGN_HEIF_COMPRESSION_JPEG", "jpeg"},
+			{VIPS_FOREIGN_HEIF_COMPRESSION_AV1, "VIPS_FOREIGN_HEIF_COMPRESSION_AV1", "av1"},
+			{VIPS_FOREIGN_HEIF_COMPRESSION_LAST, "VIPS_FOREIGN_HEIF_COMPRESSION_LAST", "last"},
+			{0, NULL, NULL}
+		};
+		
+		etype = g_enum_register_static( "VipsForeignHeifCompression", values );
+	}
+
+	return( etype );
+}
 /* enumerations from "../../libvips/include/vips/image.h" */
 GType
 vips_demand_style_get_type( void )