What Is HEIC File.
HEIC (High-Efficiency Image Container) is the filename extension for the High Efficiency Image File Format, which is Apple new standard that covers multimedia files. HEIC can also include other media streams, such as timed text, audio and video. A HEIC or HEIF image using High Efficiency Video Coding, HEVC, requires only about half the storage space as the equivalent quality JPEG.
1 Compare HEIC and JPEG/JPG
A HEIC image taken on an iPhone or iPad is using High Efficiency Video Coding, HEVC. HEIC image requires only about half the storage space as the equivalent quality JPEG. HEIC also supports animation, and is capable of storing more pixels at a small fraction of the size. While JPEG is the most commonly used and best supported lossy image format. JPEG is perfectly supported on most platforms and devices.
2 HEIC Supported Operating Systems
When Apple released iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra in 2017, the HEIC image file format became the standard for storing photos on iOS devices. Android 9 Pie lately introduced native support for HEIF images as well. Currently some specific models of Canon and Sony camera also give support for capturing HEIC pictures.
| Platform | Specific operating system details |
|---|---|
| Windows | Windows 10 version 1803 and later (HEIC) |
| macOS | macOS High Sierra and later (HEIC) |
| iOS | iOS 11 and later (HEIC) |
| Android | Android 9 (Pie) and later (HEIC) |
| Ubuntu | Ubuntu 20.04 and later (HEIC) |
3 HEIC Pro Tips and Best Practices
Currently many image editing software programs give native support on HEIC image files, including Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop, Affinity Photo, GIMP, Pixelmator, etc. Since our goal is to help you understand what is HEIC file, we made up a complete set of manual articles on what is HEIC file and how to make best use of HEIC file.