What is HEIC? Apple's Photo Format Explained

HEIC stands for High Efficiency Image Container. It's been the default format for iPhone photos since iOS 11 in 2017. If you've taken a photo on an iPhone in the last seven years, it's probably a HEIC file.

Why Apple Switched From JPG

Phone cameras kept getting better—more megapixels, more detail, bigger files. By 2017, a single iPhone photo could easily hit 5-6 MB in JPG format. Multiply that by thousands of photos, and storage fills up fast.

HEIC uses a newer compression algorithm (borrowed from video encoding) that creates files roughly half the size of equivalent JPGs. Same quality, half the storage. For a phone with fixed storage, that's a big deal.

The Technical Bit

HEIC is actually a container format, not a codec. The actual compression uses HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding), the same technology used for 4K video. The container can hold:

Single images
Image sequences (like Live Photos)
Image collections (burst shots stored as one file)
Depth maps (for Portrait mode effects)
HDR data (so your phone can re-process the photo with different settings later)

This flexibility is why Apple went all-in on HEIC. A Live Photo is a still image plus a short video clip, and HEIC handles that as a single file. Try doing that with JPG.

The Compatibility Problem

Apple adopted HEIC before most of the world was ready for it. Seven years later, support has improved, but it's not universal:

macOS: Full support since High Sierra (2017)
iOS: Full support since iOS 11 (2017)
Windows: Supported with a free extension from Microsoft Store
Android: Varies by manufacturer—most modern phones can view but not all can edit
Web browsers: Safari yes, Chrome and Firefox mostly yes, older browsers no
Photo editing apps: Photoshop, Lightroom, and most major apps support it; some older or simpler apps don't

When HEIC Causes Problems

The usual trouble spots:

Emailing photos to someone on an older computer
Uploading to websites that only accept JPG or PNG
Printing services that don't recognize the format
Sharing with Windows users who haven't installed the extension
Using older photo editing software

When you hit these walls, the solution is converting to JPG. You'll lose the smaller file size, but you'll gain universal compatibility. Convert HEIC to JPG here.

Can You Shoot JPG on iPhone Instead?

Yes. Go to Settings → Camera → Formats and choose "Most Compatible." Your photos will be saved as JPG and your videos as H.264 instead of HEVC. They'll be bigger files, but they'll work everywhere.

Most people don't do this because storage space matters more than occasional compatibility hassles. Converting when needed is usually easier.

HEIC vs HEIF

You might see "HEIF" mentioned—it stands for High Efficiency Image Format and it's essentially the same thing. HEIC is specifically for images using HEVC compression inside the HEIF container. For practical purposes, they're interchangeable terms.

The Future

HEIC support keeps improving. Browsers are adding native support, more apps are updating, and Windows handles it better each year. But JPG isn't going anywhere—it's been the universal standard for 30 years and will remain compatible with everything for decades to come.

For now, the practical approach is to shoot in HEIC (for the storage savings) and convert to JPG when you need to share with the wider world.