HEIC
Apple's default image container using HEVC codec. Achieves roughly half the file size of JPEG at equal quality.
HEIC (High Efficiency Image Container) is a file format within the HEIF (High Efficiency Image File Format) standard developed by MPEG, using the HEVC (H.265) video codec as its compression engine. Apple adopted it as the default capture format starting with iOS 11 in 2017.
Leveraging HEVC's advanced intra-prediction and transform coding, HEIC produces smaller files than JPEG at equivalent perceptual quality. The HEIF container's flexible structure allows a single file to store multiple images, depth maps, alpha channels, and EXIF metadata simultaneously.
- 10-bit color depth: Support for 10-bit color makes it suitable for HDR content preservation
- Non-destructive edits: Rotation and crop instructions are stored as metadata, preserving the original pixel data
- Burst mode: Multiple burst-shot images can be packed into a single file for improved storage efficiency
One challenge has been HEVC's patent licensing complexity, which delayed adoption on Windows and Android platforms. Tools like libheif and ImageMagick handle batch conversion.