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HEIC converter

A .heic file contains imagery compressed with the HEVC (H.265) video codec inside the HEIF container — it is the specific HEVC-coded flavor of HEIF. Apple made it the default camera format on iPhone, so most .heic files people encounter are iPhone photos that roughly halve the storage of equivalent JPEGs.

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Runs on your device

Drop HEIC files here

Batch files can each use a different output. Nothing uploads for local conversions.

Working inputs include camera RAW, browser-local audio/video, PDF, CBZ/CBR comics, office documents, ebooks, markup, 3D models, structured text, images, and archives.

Where HEIC comes from

MPEG standardized the HEIF container in 2015 as ISO/IEC 23008-12, building on the ISO base media file format. Apple adopted the HEVC-in-HEIF combination as the iPhone's capture default with iOS 11 in 2017, which took the format from obscurity to billions of files almost overnight.

How HEIC works

  • Pixels are HEVC intra-coded, commonly at 10-bit depth on recent iPhones
  • Large photos are stored as a grid of independently decodable tiles reassembled on display
  • Auxiliary items carry alpha masks, depth maps, and HDR gain maps alongside the primary image
  • One file can hold bursts, exposure brackets, or Live Photo sequences as multiple items

When to use HEIC

  • Default photo capture on iPhone and iPad, halving camera roll storage
  • Archiving 10-bit HDR photos with depth data intact
  • Moving images between Apple devices where support is guaranteed

Strengths and limitations

Strengths

  • Roughly twice JPEG's compression efficiency at comparable quality
  • 10-bit depth and gain-map HDR that JPEG lacks
  • Multi-image container handles bursts and auxiliary data elegantly

Limitations

  • HEVC patent licensing means Windows users must install a codec (historically a paid $0.99 extension) to view files
  • No browser except Safari displays it in a web page
  • Sharing to older Android devices or web forms often fails without conversion to JPEG

Compatibility

Support is excellent inside the Apple ecosystem (iOS 11+, macOS High Sierra+) and spotty everywhere else: Windows 10/11 needs the HEIF and HEVC extensions from the Microsoft Store, Android has read support from version 9 onward with gaps, and among browsers only Safari can render .heic in an img tag. Converting to JPEG or PNG remains the practical route for sharing.

Full EXIF (including GPS and orientation) and XMP are carried as container-level metadata items, and Apple additionally embeds depth and gain-map auxiliary data that most converters discard.

Convert HEIC to another format