Sobre os arquivos HEIF

Imagem HEIF

Lançado em 2015 Por MPEG / ISO/IEC

Container moderno High Efficiency Image Format (2015). Padrão para fotos iPhone (HEIC = HEIF com codec HEVC). 40% menor que JPEG com qualidade superior.

Família

Raster & Vector Images

Extensão

.heif

Tipo MIME

image/heif

Pode ser usado como

Entrada

A história

COMO NASCEU O
FORMATO HEIF.

2015

2017

2018

2023

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.

CURIOSIDADES E
FATOS INTERESSANTES.

.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.

VANTAGENS E
LIMITAÇÕES.

Vantagens

~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.

Limitações

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.

Tamanhos típicos de arquivo

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

Especificações técnicas

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

CONVERTER A PARTIR DE
HEIF

heif jpg heif png heif webp heif avif heif gif heif bmp heif tiff heif ico heif pdf

Casos de uso comuns

Advanced photography, depth map storage, burst photo sequences.