What is inside a HEIC file?
A HEIC file is an image in HEIF, the High Efficiency Image File Format, whose pictures are compressed with HEVC, the video codec also known as H.265; the .heic extension marks that pairing. HEIF is an international standard, ISO/IEC 23008-12, developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group, the MPEG of MPEG video.
You may also see .heif, and some Canon and Fujifilm cameras write the same kind of file with a .hif extension. They are the same format as far as opening and converting are concerned.
Why do iPhones use HEIC?
To fit more photos in the same space. HEVC compresses photographs more efficiently than the decades-older method inside JPEG, so a HEIC photo takes less storage than a JPEG of similar quality. Apple's support documentation says iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra introduced support for the format, and that the iPhone 7 and later can capture it; the camera's High Efficiency setting is the one that saves HEIC.
HEIF can also hold more than one image in a file: a sequence of frames, a depth map stored beside the main picture, as Portrait mode photos carry, or a separate transparency layer. When a HEIC is converted, the main image is the one that comes out.
What opens a HEIC file?
| Where | Opens HEIC? |
|---|---|
| iPhone, iPad and Mac | Yes, in Photos, Preview and the rest of Apple's apps |
| Windows 10 and 11 | In Photos, once Microsoft's HEIF Image Extensions and HEVC Video Extensions are installed from the Microsoft Store |
| Android | Depends on the phone and its gallery app |
| Web browsers | Safari displays HEIC images; Chrome, Edge and Firefox do not display them in web pages |
| Upload forms and older software | Often not; many accept only JPG and PNG |
| File4Edit | Yes, in every current browser, to turn into a JPG, PNG, WebP or PDF |
That last row is the useful one on a PC. Safari reads HEIC with its own decoder; in Chrome, Edge and Firefox, File4Edit downloads a HEIC decoder from its own site the first time a HEIC photo arrives, and the photo is decoded in the tab without being uploaded.
HEIC vs JPG: which is better?
HEIC is the better container: smaller files, more than one image per file, transparency, and room for more than 8 bits of color per channel. JPG is the better envelope for sending, because everything opens it.
So the usual answer is to keep HEIC on the phone, where it saves space, and to share JPGs. The HEIC to JPG converter makes those in any current browser, and How to convert HEIC to JPG on Windows covers the other options on a PC. For a copy you will edit and re-save, the HEIC to PNG converter loses nothing further.
How do you stop taking HEIC photos?
On the iPhone, open Settings, then Camera, then Formats, and choose Most Compatible. New photos are then saved as JPEG, at the cost of more storage, and the ones already taken stay HEIC.
What happens to the details when you convert?
A HEIC photo carries the same kind of EXIF details as a JPEG: the time, the camera and, often, the GPS position where it was taken. Files that File4Edit converts are drawn from the pixels alone, so none of those details come across. Remove EXIF data shows what a photo carries before you share it.
Colors can move a little too. A recent iPhone photo uses a wider range of color than a standard screen shows. Safari converts it to standard sRGB colors, while the decoder used in the other browsers does not apply the photo's color profile, so the most saturated colors can look slightly flatter after conversion.