HEIC files provide better compression than JPEG while maintaining image quality, used by Apple devices.
Common Uses
Photos taken on iPhone and iPad
Space-efficient photo storage
Live Photos and image sequences
HEIC Conversion FAQ
What is a HEIC file?
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HEIC (High Efficiency Image Container) is an image format based on the HEIF standard used by Apple.
Does re-saving a HEIC make it worse every time?
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Yes, and that is the one thing worth knowing about the format. Each save re-runs the lossy encoder over an image that has already been through it, so artefacts compound — visible as blocking around text and haloes on hard edges after a handful of generations. Edit from a lossless master and export to HEIC once, at the end, rather than repeatedly opening and re-saving the same file. A HEIC holds HEVC-compressed stills — the same codec family used for video — and can carry several images, a depth map and non-destructive edits in one file.
What quality setting should I use when converting to HEIC?
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Somewhere between 80 and 90 for anything a person will look at. Below about 75 the artefacts start to show on skin, sky and any large flat area; above 95 the file grows quickly while almost nobody can see the difference. The setting is not a property of the image, it is a decision about this particular export — so choose it for where the file is going, and keep the original for the next time you need a different answer.
Do frame timing and looping survive converting a HEIC?
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Into another animation-capable format, yes — per-frame delays and the loop count are stored in the file and carried across. Into a still format only one frame survives, normally the first. Into video the loop flag has nowhere to go, because the player decides for itself whether to repeat. Check the playback speed afterwards when the frame rate changes: a fixed rate can only approximate variable per-frame delays.
Is HEIC too new to be widely supported?
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Less so every year, but the gap is real. Software support arrived quickly; hardware support only comes with new devices, and the phone, television or player in front of you may simply predate it. Where it is supported it is measurably better than the format it replaces, which is why it is worth converting into for delivery and worth converting out of for compatibility. HEIC stores a photograph at roughly half the size of an equivalent JPG at the same visible quality, with 10-bit colour and a real alpha channel available.
Do I need a Mac to work with HEIC files?
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No. The format came out of Apple and is what its devices and software produce by default, but the files themselves are ordinary and read fine elsewhere with the right tool. Converting here happens on the server, so no QuickTime install, no Apple hardware and no platform-specific codec pack is involved anywhere in the process.
Why does a HEIC not display in my browser?
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Because browsers implement a short list of image formats and HEIC is outside it — it belongs to a scanning, print or editing workflow rather than to the web. The file is not damaged; it simply has no decoder in the page. Converting to a web-native image format is a one-step fix and normally makes the file substantially smaller as well. HEIC is patent-encumbered and still widely refused: browsers do not display it, Windows needs an extra codec, and a great many upload forms reject the extension outright.
Can I just rename the extension instead of converting HEIC?
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Almost never, and it is worth understanding why: the extension is a label, while the bytes inside are structured for one specific format. Renaming produces a file whose name promises something its contents do not deliver, and whatever opens it either refuses the file or misreads it. The one narrow exception is two formats that are genuinely the same container under different names — and even then a proper rewrap is safer than a rename.
Can I make a HEIC bigger without it going blurry?
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Only modestly. The pixels that were captured are all the detail there is: enlarging either interpolates, which softens edges, or uses an AI upscaler, which invents plausible detail that was never in the original. Both are fine for a step up of a third or so and neither turns a thumbnail into a poster. Start from the largest copy you have and resize down wherever the choice exists.
What happens to my HEIC file after the conversion?
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It is deleted automatically. The upload and the converted result stay on our servers for about 24 hours, which leaves time to download the result, and are then removed by an automatic cleanup. The transfer runs over HTTPS in both directions. Nobody reads the contents, nothing is indexed, and nothing is passed to anyone else.
How long does converting a HEIC take?
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Usually seconds. Small files are effectively instant, and the cases that take real time are the ones doing real work: a long recording that has to be re-encoded frame by frame, a scanned document going through character recognition, or a very large batch. Where a conversion only rewraps or repackages the existing data it stays fast no matter how big the file is, because nothing is being decoded.
What is the best way to process HEIC files?
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Upload your file by dragging it onto the page or clicking to browse, choose the output format, then start the conversion. The converted file is ready to download when it finishes.
