What is HEIC?

If you own an iPhone, your photos are stored as HEIC. Here's what that actually means, why Apple chose it, and when you need to convert.

HEIC in one sentence

HEIC (High Efficiency Image Coding) is a modern photo format that stores the same image quality as JPG in about half the file size.

It's built on HEIF (High Efficiency Image File Format), the container standard — HEIC is specifically the HEIF variant Apple uses for photos.

Why Apple uses it

Storage. Half the file size means roughly double the photos in the same iPhone storage. That's why every iPhone since iOS 11 defaults to HEIC (Apple calls it 'High Efficiency').

HEIC also stores multiple images in one file — like Live Photos — and supports better HDR than JPG.

The trade-off: compatibility

The downside is adoption. JPG has been everywhere since 1992; HEIC is mostly an Apple-world format. Windows needs extra codecs, some websites reject it, and older software simply doesn't know what it is.

That's why most people eventually need to convert some HEIC files to JPG — for email, uploads, or sending to someone with older tech.

HEIC vs JPG vs WebP vs AVIF

Roughly: JPG is the universal classic, smaller than BMP but lossy. HEIC beats JPG by ~50% size at equal quality. WebP is Google's answer — also ~50% smaller than JPG, with transparency. AVIF is the newest, beating both, but its support is still catching up.

For sharing, JPG remains the safest choice. For storage on your own devices, HEIC is great. For the web, WebP or AVIF when supported.

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