If you’ve been reading about iPhone photos, you’ve probably seen both HEIF and HEIC — sometimes in the same sentence, as if they were the same thing. They’re closely related, but not identical. Here’s the difference in plain language, and why it occasionally matters.
The short answer
- HEIF (High Efficiency Image File Format) is a container: a standard way to package images and their metadata in a file.
- HEIC is a HEIF file whose images are compressed with HEVC (H.265). It’s the specific flavor Apple uses.
Think of HEIF as “a box” and HEVC as “what’s packed inside.” When the box contains HEVC-compressed images, the file is called HEIC. Every HEIC file is a HEIF file; not every HEIF file is HEIC.
What does HEIF mean?
HEIF stands for High Efficiency Image File Format. It was developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) — the organization behind MP3 and MP4 — and published as ISO/IEC 23008-12 in 2015. The “high efficiency” refers to the fact that modern video compression can store a photo in about half the space of a JPG at similar quality.
What makes HEIF interesting is how much it can hold beyond a single picture:
- multiple images (bursts, Live Photo stills, image collections)
- depth maps for Portrait mode blur
- HDR gain maps and wide color
- transparency (alpha channels)
- thumbnails, rotation and crop instructions that don’t alter the original pixels
- EXIF and XMP metadata
JPG can do almost none of this, which is part of why Apple adopted HEIF.
So what is HEIC?
HEIC is the name for HEIF files that use HEVC compression. Apple’s iPhones and iPads have saved photos this way since iOS 11 (2017), with the extension .heic. In Apple’s Camera settings the option is labeled High Efficiency, and Apple often refers to the format simply as HEIF.
For the full background on HEIC — why it’s used and why it won’t open on many devices — see What is a HEIC file?
HEIF vs HEIC at a glance
| HEIF | HEIC | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Container standard | HEIF + HEVC-compressed images |
| File extensions | .heif, .hif, .heifs | .heic, .heics |
| Typical source | Some Canon, Sony, Fujifilm cameras; Android phones | iPhone, iPad |
| Codec inside | HEVC, AV1, JPEG, others | HEVC |
| Opens natively on | Apple devices; Android 9+ (most) | Apple devices; Android 9+ (most) |
| Windows | Needs HEIF Image Extensions (+ codec) | Needs HEIF + HEVC extensions |
Other members of the HEIF family
Because HEIF is just a container, other codecs can live inside it:
- AVIF is HEIF with AV1 compression. It’s royalty-free and supported by every major web browser, which is why it’s popular on websites. You can create AVIF files with our HEIC to AVIF converter.
- .hif files from mirrorless cameras are HEIF with 10-bit HEVC — essentially high-bit-depth HEIC.
- Some HEIF files even contain plain JPEG images, though that’s rare.
When does the difference actually matter?
For everyday use, almost never — tools that “open HEIF” nearly always open HEIC too. It matters in two situations:
- On Windows. Microsoft’s free HEIF Image Extensions handles the container, but decoding HEVC-compressed HEIC photos also needs the HEVC Video Extensions codec. That’s why some people install the HEIF extension and still can’t see their iPhone photos. We explain the fix in HEIF Image Extensions for Windows.
- When a service lists supported formats. “Supports HEIF” usually includes HEIC, but if uploads fail, converting to JPG is the safe fallback.
Is HEIF a good format?
Technically it’s excellent: smaller files, better quality per byte and more features than JPG. Its weakness is compatibility, because the HEVC codec inside HEIC requires licensing. If you’re deciding whether to keep shooting in it, read HEIC vs JPEG: which should you use? Photographers weighing up maximum quality should also see HEIF vs RAW on iPhone.
How to convert HEIF or HEIC files
Whether your file ends in .heif, .heic or .hif, you can convert it the same way. Our free in-browser tools handle all three:
- HEIF/HEIC to JPG — for sharing and uploading
- HEIF/HEIC to PNG — lossless, for editing
- HEIF/HEIC to PDF — for documents and forms
Nothing is uploaded; the conversion runs on your device. For step-by-step instructions on Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android, see How to convert HEIC to JPG on any device.