An image forming apparatus includes a toner image forming mechanism that forms a toner image on a recording medium and a fixing mechanism that fixes the toner image on the recording medium. The fixing mechanism includes a fixing apparatus. The fixing apparatus includes: an elastic roller having a stiffness greater than or equal to 28 Hs and less than or equal to 34 Hs on an Asker C scale and including a sponge-like elastic layer having a density greater than or equal to 0.38 g/cm.sup.3; a high-stiffness roller having a stiffness greater than the stiffness of the elastic roller and forms a fixing nip between the elastic roller and the high-stiffness roller; and a heating mechanism that heats the fixing nip.