What is a HEIC file?
HEIC is the High Efficiency Image Container, Apple’s implementation of the HEIF standard published by MPEG in 2015. Images inside are compressed with HEVC (H.265), the same codec used for 4K video, which lets an iPhone store a 12-megapixel photo in roughly 1.5–3 MB.
Apple made HEIC the default camera format in iOS 11 (2017). macOS and iOS open it natively, recent Android versions can too, but Windows needs a paid codec extension and most web upload forms, CMSs and older editors still reject it. That is why HEIC to JPG is one of the most searched conversions.
| Extensions | .heic, .heif, .hif |
|---|---|
| MIME type | image/heic, image/heif |
| Compression | Lossy (HEVC), lossless possible |
| Transparency | Supported (rare in photos) |
| Developed by | MPEG; popularised by Apple (2017) |
| ConvertCove decoder | libheif (WebAssembly) |
HEIC files can hold several images, depth maps and HDR gain maps. ConvertCove converts the primary image.
Convert HEIC to…
Every conversion listed works in the converter above: add a HEIC file and pick the target format.
Detailed guides: HEIC to JPG · HEIC to PNG
Part of the image converter · all formats.