HEIC files are photos stored in HEIF, the High Efficiency Image File Format defined in ISO/IEC 23008-12. HEIF itself is a container; the Library of Congress format description notes it is not an image or video encoder. The .heic extension marks a HEIF file containing one or more images coded with HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding, also known as H.265). Related extensions are .heics for HEVC image sequences and .heif for HEIF files that may use other codecs. The registered media types are image/heic and image/heif.
Apple introduced support for HEIF photos and HEVC video in iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra in 2017, and recommends capturing in these formats on devices that support them. Apple states that the formats compress better than JPEG and H.264, so they use less storage on devices and in iCloud Photos. A single HEIC file can hold one or more images.
Example
An iPhone photo saved as IMG_0001.HEIC has the media type image/heic. On a Mac or another Apple device running iOS 11 or later it opens normally. When the same photo is shared to a device that does not support HEIF, Apple says it may be sent automatically in a more compatible format such as JPEG. On Windows, Microsoft's HEIF Image Extension and the HEVC Video Extensions package are needed to view .heic files.
HEIC vs JPG
| HEIC | JPG | |
|---|---|---|
| Container / standard | HEIF, ISO/IEC 23008-12 | JPEG |
| Compression | HEVC | JPEG |
| iPhone camera setting | Settings > Camera > Formats > High Efficiency | Settings > Camera > Formats > Most Compatible |
| Compatibility | Needs HEIF support | Opens almost everywhere |
To share a HEIC photo widely, convert it with the HEIC to JPG converter, use the HEIC to PNG converter for a lossless copy, or combine photos with image to PDF. The guide to converting HEIC to JPG covers iPhone, Mac and Windows methods.
Common mistakes
- Renaming
.heicto.jpginstead of converting. The image data stays HEVC-coded, so the file is still HEIC. - Assuming HEIC and HEIF are different formats. HEIC is HEIF with HEVC-coded images.