Loading, Please Wait...
HEIC, an acronym for High-Efficiency Image Container, is a container image file format that can store multiple images in a single file. HEIC is based on the HEIF file format and uses HEVC (High-Efficiency Video Encoding, also known as H.265 and MPEG-H Part 2), an image and video encoding format to achieve compact file size while keeping the quality high. A HEIC photo takes up about half the space of an equivalent quality JPEG file.
Starting in 2017, with the release of iOS 7, Apple has made HEIC the default photo storage format for iOS devices. After adding HEIC support to iOS, they also added HEIC support to macOS, with the release of High Sierra.
| Name | High Efficiency Image Container |
|---|---|
| File Extension(s) | .heic |
| Category | Raster Images |
| Use For | Store photos in smaller sizes but with higher quality than the popular formats like JPEG. |
| Developer | Moving Picture Experts Group |
| MIME Type(s) | image/heic image/heic-sequence |
| License | N/A |
| File Sample(s) | N/A |
| Compression | Lossy and lossless |
| Max Dimensions | N/A |
| Color Modes | N/A |
| Animation | Yes |
| Transparency | Yes |
| Interlacing | No |
| Metadata | Yes |
| Layers | N/A |
| Multipage | Yes |