What Is HEIC? Apple's Image Format Explained

HEIC (High Efficiency Image Container) is the file format Apple uses for photos on iPhone and iPad, introduced with iOS 11 in 2017. It is based on the ISO HEIF standard (High Efficiency Image File Format) and uses HEVC (H.265) compression to achieve much smaller files than JPEG at equivalent quality.

Storage Efficiency

HEIC photos are typically around 50% smaller than equivalent JPEG files at the same perceptual quality. Apple's default Camera app captures at 12-bit colour depth in HEIC, compared to the 8-bit depth of JPEG, which preserves more tonal detail in shadows and highlights for editing.

Which Devices Use HEIC

All iPhones from iPhone 7 (running iOS 11+) and compatible iPads default to HEIC capture. macOS High Sierra and later can read and write HEIC natively. Android 12+ includes limited HEIC decode support, but most Android camera apps still default to JPEG.

Opening HEIC on Windows

Windows 10 and 11 do not include HEIC support by default. To open HEIC files on Windows you need the free HEIF Image Extensions codec from the Microsoft Store (search for "HEIF Image Extensions"). Alternatively, converting the file to JPEG with jpg.now requires no software installation.

Why Convert HEIC to JPEG?

Sharing with recipients who use Windows or older Android devices without HEIC support
Uploading to platforms that don't accept HEIC (many social and e-commerce sites)
Opening in older photo editors that pre-date HEIC support
Embedding in documents or presentations