What is HEIC? The HEIC file format explained

What does HEIC stand for?

So what is HEIC? HEIC stands for High Efficiency Image Container. It is Apple's name and file extension for photos stored in the High Efficiency Image File Format (HEIF), with the image itself compressed by HEVC, the High Efficiency Video Coding standard also known as H.265. HEIF was developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) and published as an ISO standard in 2015; Wikipedia's article on High Efficiency Image File Format covers its history in detail.

In practice the words are used loosely. A HEIC file is a HEIF file with HEVC-compressed images inside: HEIF is the container format, HEIC is the HEIF format with HEVC. Other cameras and phones may save HEIF files with the .heif or .hif extension; they are the same container, and the converter on this page opens all three.

Why does the iPhone use HEIC?

Apple switched the iPhone camera from JPG to HEIC with iOS 11 in 2017. The main reason is size: HEVC compresses photos about twice as efficiently as JPG, so the same photo takes roughly half the storage at similar quality. With 12 MP and later 48 MP cameras, that difference adds up to many gigabytes per library.

The HEIC format (and HEIF in general) can also do things the JPG format cannot:

• Store more than one image in a file: burst shots, image collections, and the depth map that Portrait mode uses to blur the background.
• Hold 10-bit color and HDR information, so bright skies and highlights keep more detail.
• Keep transparency, thumbnails and edits (such as a rotation) alongside the picture without re-encoding it.
• Carry the usual EXIF metadata: date, camera settings and, when location services are on, GPS coordinates.

HEIC vs JPG vs PNG

The three formats suit different jobs, and knowing what is HEIC good at helps you choose. A short comparison for a typical 12 MP phone photo:

• HEIC: about 1.5 to 3 MB. Smallest files, lossy, supports HDR, depth and multiple images. Opens natively on Apple devices, and not everywhere else.
• JPG: about 3 to 5 MB. Lossy, no transparency, one image per file. Opens on every device, website and app made in the last thirty years.
• PNG: about 15 to 25 MB. Lossless and supports transparency, so it is ideal for editing and graphics. Opens everywhere, but photos become large. Wikipedia has a good overview of the PNG format.

Which devices and apps can open a HEIC file?

Support for the HEIF format has improved since 2017, but it is still patchy outside Apple's own devices:

• iPhone and iPad (iOS 11 and later) and Mac (macOS High Sierra and later): open, edit and share HEIC everywhere, including Photos, Preview and Files.
• Windows 10 and 11: only after installing the HEIF Image Extensions and the HEVC Video Extensions from the Microsoft Store.
• Android: Android 9 and later can read the HEIF format, and many recent phones can also take HEIC photos. Support in individual apps varies.
• Web browsers: Safari 17 and later shows HEIC images. Chrome, Edge and Firefox do not, so a HEIC uploaded to a website often appears as a broken image.
• Editors and office apps: recent versions of Photoshop, Lightroom and GIMP open HEIC; many older programs, online forms and printing services do not.

How to open a HEIC file

On an Apple device, double-click or tap it: Photos, Preview and Files all handle HEIC. On Windows, install the two Microsoft Store extensions and the file opens in Photos. Anywhere else, the simplest way to open a HEIC file is to convert it: drop it on the converter at the top of this page and you get a copy in a common format that opens in any app, without uploading the photo.

For step-by-step instructions on every system, including batch conversion, read the conversion guide. If the photo is going into an email or a web form, HEIC to JPG gives you smaller files.

Should you stop using HEIC on your iPhone?

You can. In Settings, open Camera, then Formats, and choose Most Compatible: new photos are saved as JPG and videos as H.264. Apple documents the setting in its article on HEIF and HEVC media. The cost is storage, since JPG photos take about twice the space.

For most people it is better to keep the HEIC format and convert only the photos that need to go somewhere else. iPhones already convert automatically in many cases, for example when you email a photo or share it with a device that cannot read HEIC, and the rest is a few seconds with a converter.

What is inside a HEIC file, and why it matters for privacy

Part of the answer to what is HEIC is what it carries. Besides the picture, a HEIC file (like any HEIF file) from a phone usually holds a small preview, the EXIF metadata and sometimes a depth map or extra frames. The metadata often includes the exact GPS location where the photo was taken. Sharing the original file shares that location too.

When you convert a HEIC file with the converter on our home page, only the pixels of the main photo are saved. The location, camera details and extra images are left out, and the original on your device stays as it was.

HEIC file questions