What Is the BIMI AVP Tag? Avatar Preference Explained
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Last Updated: 4 min read
Key Takeaways
- The BIMI AVP tag controls inbox branding. It lets domain owners indicate whether mailbox providers should prioritize their corporate BIMI logo or a sender’s personal avatar.
- You can choose between avp=brand and avp=personal. Use brand when consistent corporate branding is the priority, or personal when individual sender identity matters more.
- AVP is optional. You don’t need the tag for BIMI to work. Under the latest IETF draft, a valid BIMI record without an AVP tag is treated as avp=brand.
- It’s added to your existing BIMI record. Simply append the AVP value to your existing _bimi TXT record.
- Provider support is still evolving. The AVP tag is not universally supported, so organizations should check individual mailbox provider documentation before relying on it for inbox display behavior.
The avp= tag (standing for Avatar Preference) is defined in ongoing IETF drafts for BIMI to let senders choose between displaying an organizational brand logo (avp=brand) or a personal sender avatar (avp=personal).
The BIMI avp tag (short for Avatar Preference) is optional in a BIMI DNS record that tells mailbox providers whether to display your organization’s brand logo or the individual sender’s personal avatar. You can set this tag to either avp=brand or avp=personal depending on your preference.
If you are already familiar with the core setup steps in configuring BIMI for your domain, this specific tag is the next step in fine-tuning your visual identity in the inbox.
What the AVP Tag Does
Mailbox providers that support both brand logos and personal avatars previously had to choose for themselves which one to display. This caused a recurring issue where a domain’s branding could vary from message to message. The avp tag solves this inconsistency by handing the display choice directly to the domain owner.
avp=brand vs avp=personal
The tag gives you strategic control over your brand’s inbox presence through two simple values:
| Tag Value | Display Behavior |
|---|---|
| avp=brand | The mailbox provider shows the BIMI logo for the domain, even if the sender has a personal avatar. |
| avp=personal | The sender's personal avatar is shown when there is one. The BIMI logo is used as a fallback if the sender does not have a personal avatar. |
While older conventions left behavior without the tag up to provider discretion, the official specifications have since been updated. According to the latest IETF BIMI draft specification, if the tag is not present in an otherwise syntactically valid BIMI record, the record is treated as if it included avp=brand.
Learn more about how to create and publish a BIMI record.
BIMI AVP Tag Syntax (With Examples)
The avp tag does not require a new DNS entry. It is simply appended to your existing default._bimi TXT record alongside your logo location and certificate tags.
To prefer the brand logo:
None
v=BIMI1; l=https://example.com/logo.svg; a=https://example.com/vmc.pem; avp=brand;
To prefer personal avatars:
None
v=BIMI1; l=https://example.com/logo.svg; a=https://example.com/vmc.pem; avp=personal;
This tag is completely optional. However, if you choose to include it, accuracy is important. The IETF specifications note that a mailbox provider may choose to treat an invalid preference value as a failing record, so ensure you only use the exact “brand” or “personal” values.
Should You Publish the BIMI AVP Tag?
Adding the BIMI avp tag is a small, forward-looking change. Here is a clear look at how to decide which value makes sense for your organization.
Publish avp=brand if: Brand recognition in the inbox is the main point of your BIMI investment. Retail, banking, transactional, and marketing senders rely on corporate consistency. If you bought a VMC to guarantee a specific visual identity, you want your brand logo front and center every time.
Publish avp=personal if: Individual sender identity matters more than the corporate mark. This approach is ideal for consultancies, universities, agencies, and real estate businesses. In these industries, recipients often build relationships with a specific person rather than the overarching brand.
Either way, publishing this preference costs you nothing but one extra tag on a record you already maintain. Adding it puts your preference in place well before all providers turn support on universally. This is not an urgent update, and your current BIMI setup will not break if you skip it.
Which Mailbox Providers Support the AVP Tag?
Support is not currently universal among BIMI-supporting mailbox providers. While the BIMI Group officially documents the avp tag, no major provider has publicly confirmed a definitive timeline for enforcing it across all platforms. You should check individual provider documentation to confirm their active support status.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does AVP stand for in BIMI?
AVP stands for Avatar Preference. It is an optional tag used in BIMI DNS records to instruct mailbox providers on whether to prioritize a corporate brand logo or a sender’s personal profile avatar in the inbox.
Is the BIMI avp tag required?
No, the avp tag is entirely optional. Your BIMI record will continue to function correctly and authenticate your logo even if you do not add this specific preference tag.
What happens if I don’t publish an avp tag?
Under the latest IETF draft guidelines, if your BIMI record is syntactically valid but lacks the avp tag, mailbox providers are instructed to treat it as if it included avp=brand.
Can I change my avp value later?
Yes. Since the avp tag is just a piece of text within your DNS record, you can update the TXT record in your DNS settings at any time to switch between brand and personal preferences.
Does the avp tag affect whether my BIMI logo displays at all?
No. The avp tag only controls the priority between two valid images (your brand logo and a personal avatar). Your BIMI logo will still display based on your DMARC enforcement and provider requirements.
Final Words
The avp tag is a small, optional control over an inbox display decision that used to be made for you. Pick the value that matches how you want your organization to be recognized, add it to your DNS record, and move on.
When you are ready to update your setup, use our free tools to easily build and verify your configuration. You can create your updated record with our BIMI record generator and confirm it resolves properly using our BIMI record checker.
Domain & Email Security Expert at PowerDMARC
Yunes is an Operations Team Lead at PowerDMARC with expert knowledge in email authentication and security. Yunes is a Microsoft-certified Azure Administrator Associate with certifications in CompTIA A+ and many more.
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