About HEIF Files
HEIF Image
HEIF (High Efficiency Image File Format) is the container format behind HEIC. It supports advanced features like image sequences, depth maps, and HDR but has limited cross-platform support.
Family
Raster & Vector Images
Extension
.heif
MIME Type
image/heif
Can Use As
HOW HEIF
CAME TO BE.
HEIF — High Efficiency Image File Format — was standardized by MPEG as ISO/IEC 23008-12 in June 2015. It is a container format (based on the ISO Base Media File Format, the same foundation as MP4) designed to hold images encoded with any modern video codec. The most famous payload is HEVC (H.265), which gives rise to the common .heic variant Apple uses.
Apple flipped the switch on HEIF/HEIC as the default camera format in iOS 11 (September 2017). Overnight a billion iPhones started shooting photos roughly half the size of JPEG at comparable quality. The downside was compatibility: for years HEIC files caused havoc when shared with Windows users, email clients, or web browsers. The situation slowly improved — Windows 10 added HEIC support in 2018, Chrome and Firefox joined around 2023 — but HEIF is still less universally supported than JPEG.
CURIOSITIES &
TRIVIA.
.heif and .heic are the same container — only the internal codec differs (HEIF can hold AV1, VVC, or HEVC; HEIC specifically means HEVC inside).
A single HEIF file can hold multiple images (burst shots), depth maps (Portrait mode), and Live Photo video snippets in one file.
Apple patented nothing about HEIF itself, but HEVC inside HEIF is covered by multiple patent pools — part of why AVIF exists.
HEIC photos from an iPhone often carry the depth map and "auxiliary images" used by Portrait mode effects.
Renaming a .heic to .mp4 is tantalizingly close to working because both use the same ISOBMFF container — but the box types differ.
STRENGTHS &
LIMITATIONS.
Strengths
- ~50% smaller than JPEG at equivalent quality, with better detail retention.
- Container holds multi-image bursts, depth maps, and HDR data in one file.
- Supports 10 and 12-bit color, wide gamut, and HDR out of the box.
- Default iPhone camera format since 2017 — billions of files in existence.
Limitations
- HEVC codec inside .heic is patent-encumbered — licensing fees steered the web toward AVIF.
- Windows, Android, and most email clients needed plugins or recent updates to open HEIC.
- Encoding is CPU-intensive on older hardware.
- Fragmented ecosystem — the same file extension (.heif) can hold incompatible codecs.
Typical Sizes & Weights
iPhone photo (12 MP)
1-3 MB
Portrait mode (with depth map)
2-4 MB
Burst of 10 shots
5-15 MB
4K ProRAW-equivalent HEIF
10-30 MB
Technical Specifications
- MIME types
- image/heif, image/heic
- Extensions
- .heif, .heic, .heifs, .heics
- Container
- ISO Base Media File Format (ISOBMFF)
- Codecs
- HEVC (H.265), AV1, VVC (H.266)
- Standard
- ISO/IEC 23008-12
CONVERT FROM
HEIF
Common Use Cases
Advanced photography, depth map storage, burst photo sequences.
Related Formats
Popular comparisons
HEIF vs JPG
Differences, file size, and when to choose each format.
HEIF vs PNG
Differences, file size, and when to choose each format.
HEIF vs PDF
Differences, file size, and when to choose each format.
HEIF vs WEBP
Differences, file size, and when to choose each format.
HEIF vs AVIF
Differences, file size, and when to choose each format.
HEIF vs GIF
Differences, file size, and when to choose each format.
Popular HEIF conversions
The most-requested destinations when starting from HEIF.
Frequently Asked Questions about HEIF
Frequently Asked Questions
HEIF (High Efficiency Image File Format) is a container format based on HEVC compression, standardized by MPEG in 2015. It can store still images, image sequences, and auxiliary data like depth maps. HEIC is the most common HEIF variant.
HEIF files open natively on Apple devices (iOS 11+, macOS High Sierra+), Windows 10/11 with the HEIF extension installed, and modern versions of GIMP, Photoshop, and Google Photos.
HEIF is the container format specification, while HEIC is a specific implementation using HEVC codec for compression. In practice, iPhone photos labeled as HEIC are HEIF files. The terms are often used interchangeably for Apple device photos.