2013: Nokia submits a proposal
The history of HEIF begins, surprisingly, in Espoo, Finland. In 2013 — a year after Nokia had sold its mobile-phone division to Microsoft and had to reinvent itself — Nokia engineers submitted a proposal to the MPEG committee: a modern, codec-agnostic image container that could bundle multiple independent images, sequences, derived images, and metadata into a single file.
The proposal landed on fertile ground. The MPEG committee had just standardized HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding, H.265) — a video codec with significantly better compression than H.264. HEVC's intra-frame tools were technically excellent for still images. The only question was which container the bytes would be packed into. Nokia's proposal was adopted and developed further. In May 2015, HEIF appeared as ISO/IEC 23008-12 — the High Efficiency Image File Format.
HEIF is a container, not a codec
A common misconception: HEIF is not an image format in the classic sense, but a container that can hold different codecs. In the default case the codec is HEVC — and the result is called HEIC (High Efficiency Image Container). But HEIF can also hold AV1 — and then the result is called AVIF (see our AVIF history).
The container architecture enables a number of structurally elegant features:
- Multiple images in one file. Burst shots, Live Photos, bracketing sequences — everything fits inside a single HEIC file.
- Tiles and derived images. A full-size image can consist of several independently compressed tiles, which enables parallel decoding and partial streaming.
- Depth maps and motion photos. iPhones store Portrait-mode depth data directly in the HEIC; macOS and iOS use it for bokeh effects in the Photos app.
- Rich metadata. EXIF, XMP, ICC, plus HEIF-specific metadata schemas of its own.
2017: Apple jumps in
The most consequential adoption decision in HEIF's history came in June 2017 at Apple's WWDC. Phil Schiller announced that iOS 11 (available in September 2017) would use HEIC as the new default photo format — for every device capable of hardware-accelerated HEVC encoding (iPhone 7 and newer).
The rationale was pragmatic. iPhone photos from the iPhone 7's twelve-megapixel camera were typically 3–5 MB in size. HEIC allowed files that were 40–50% smaller at identical quality — which saved significant storage space on 64 GB devices and in the iCloud Photo Library. Apple also didn't require a user toggle; HEIC was used automatically unless the user explicitly chose "Most Compatible" in the settings.
The sharing nightmare
Apple's HEIC default triggered a technical shock across the photo ecosystem. Suddenly millions of iPhone users were sending HEIC images via email, WhatsApp, and Slack — to recipients on Android devices, Windows PCs, and Linux laptops that couldn't open HEIC. Opening a HEIC file on a Windows 7 PC was simply not possible in 2017.
Apple had taken precautions: the system automatically converted HEIC to JPG when the image was shared through certain channels (some mail clients, some messaging apps). But the logic was opaque — users didn't know whether their image arrived as HEIC or JPG. The result: for years the question "Why can't I open my dad's photo?" — until third-party software and browsers caught up.
For converting HEIC to JPG after the fact, we offer our HEIC converter — browser-local, no upload. A more detailed how-to can be found in the HEIC explained article.
The HEVC patent dispute
Lurking behind Apple's HEIC adoption was a political problem. HEVC is patent-encumbered: three patent pools (MPEG LA, HEVC Advance, Velos Media) demand licensing fees for its use. Anyone who builds a HEIC decoder or encoder into their software potentially has to sign three different license agreements. For Apple this was no problem — the company already has extensive patent cross-licenses and enough capital for lump-sum payments. For open-source projects and smaller software houses, however, HEIC was a no-go.
The consequence: Firefox still doesn't support HEIC natively to this day. Chrome only got a HEIC decoder in 2024 (via Apple patent cross-license packages). On Linux, HEIC is a constant pain point; libheif exists, but distributions don't ship it by default.
The involuntary contribution to AVIF
Ironically, HEIF became the technical trailblazer for a competitor. In 2019, when AOMedia needed a container for its AV1 codec, they didn't reach for a new format but used the same HEIF container as Apple. The result was AVIF — patent-free, because AV1 is royalty-free, but structurally a HEIF relative.
Today the two exist side by side: HEIC in Apple ecosystems, AVIF on the web. Both use the same container, both are excellent modern image formats. Which one prevails in the long run depends less on technology than on patent politics.
What happens on non-Apple platforms?
Windows has had a HEIC extension in the Microsoft Store since May 2019, though it's paid (€0.99) — a curiosity that passes on Apple's HEVC license. Microsoft's Photos app has been able to display HEIC ever since. macOS and Windows 11 now open HEIC without any additional software.
Android 10 gained HEIC decoder support in 2019; the encoder side is vendor-dependent. Samsung Galaxies have been able to encode HEIC since One UI 4.0, Google Pixels can read it but not write it.
On the web, HEIC is still not a viable delivery format as of 2026. The recommended practice for iPhone photo uploads remains: accept the HEIC, convert it server-side to WebP or AVIF, and deliver that. You'll find a technical deep dive on this in the web optimization guide.
When HEIF/HEIC is the right choice
- iPhone photo libraries. 40–50% less storage than JPG at identical quality — a noticeable saving on 256 GB iPhones.
- Burst sequences and Live Photos. Several frames plus metadata in one file, instead of scattered asset bundles.
- Portrait mode with depth maps. Bokeh and lighting effects can be adjusted after the fact, because the original depth map is stored alongside.
When HEIC is not ideal: web delivery (weak browser coverage), sharing to unknown recipients (compatibility risk), open-source workflows (patent-license issues). In those cases, convert to JPG, WebP, or AVIF first.
Sources
ISO/IEC 23008-12 — HEIF · Nokia HEIF project page · WWDC 2017 — Working with HEIF and HEVC · libheif source code · MPEG LA — HEVC Patent Portfolio · Microsoft Store — HEIF Image Extensions · ITU-T H.265 / ISO/IEC 23008-2 — HEVC, 2013.