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HEIF converter

A .heif file uses the High Efficiency Image File Format, a codec-agnostic container standard rather than a single compression scheme. Where .heic specifically means HEVC-coded content, the .heif extension signals the general container, which can in principle wrap HEVC, AV1, or even JPEG payloads along with sequences and derived images.

Private for supported formats — processed in your browser

Convert supported files

Runs on your device

Drop HEIF 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 HEIF comes from

The Moving Picture Experts Group developed HEIF between 2013 and 2015, publishing it as ISO/IEC 23008-12 on top of the ISO base media file format that also underlies MP4. Nokia contributed much of the design, and the format's structure later served as the foundation for AVIF, which is essentially HEIF carrying AV1 data.

How HEIF works

  • ISO BMFF box structure: items, item properties, and item references describe images declaratively
  • Codec-independent by design; brands like heic, heix, and avif identify the payload coding
  • Supports derived images — crops, rotations, overlays, and tiled grids computed at display time
  • Image sequences and tracks allow animations and bursts with video-style timing
  • Thumbnails, alpha planes, and depth maps attach to a primary item as auxiliary images

When to use HEIF

  • Container-level workflows that need bursts, brackets, or multi-resolution imagery in one file
  • Storing non-destructive crops and rotations as instructions instead of re-encoded pixels
  • Interchange between camera firmware and editing software that negotiates codecs

Strengths and limitations

Strengths

  • Flexible container design that has outlived any single codec choice
  • Rich features — tiling, sequences, auxiliary planes — unavailable in flat formats
  • Shares tooling and structure with the MP4 ecosystem

Limitations

  • The extension alone does not reveal the codec inside, so a given .heif file may or may not decode on a given device
  • Real-world support is effectively tied to HEVC availability, with its licensing baggage
  • Little native browser support outside Safari

Compatibility

Apple platforms treat .heif and .heic interchangeably, and Windows opens them only after the Microsoft Store HEIF/HEVC extensions are installed. Because the container may wrap codecs a device lacks, compatibility is less predictable than for single-codec formats, and browsers other than Safari generally do not display it at all.

EXIF and XMP are first-class metadata items in the container, with ICC profiles or CICP parameters describing color; what survives conversion depends on the tool, not the format.

Convert HEIF to another format