Convert High efficiency images (HEIF) online for free
The converter easily converts your HEIF images to various formats - free and online. No Apple Photos or or other Raster Image software needed.
To convert other file formats to the "Compressed Image Container" file type, you need software like Apple Photos or a similar tool.
The .HEIF (High Efficiency Image Format) file is an image container format developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group. It is based on the ISOBMFF (MP4) standard and typically stores images encoded with HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding). This allows .HEIF files to store images at half the file size of traditional JPG files while retaining significantly better visual quality and color depth. It is widely used by modern Apple devices to save internal storage space.
You can open .HEIF files natively on Apple devices using Apple Preview or Apple Photos. On Windows, viewing these files natively is a frustrating experience. It usually requires downloading a paid HEVC Video Extension alongside the free HEIF Image Extension from the Microsoft Store just to view the images in the default Microsoft Photos app.
Despite the storage benefits, the .HEIF format is highly restrictive in practice. It is not supported by standard web browsers like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Microsoft Edge. You cannot upload a .HEIF file directly to most content management systems (like WordPress) or social media platforms without the server outright rejecting it or heavily compressing it behind the scenes. Sharing these files directly with older Android devices or unconfigured Windows PCs almost always results in a 'Cannot open file' error.
To resolve these severe compatibility blocks, you must convert the file. For web publishing or guaranteed compatibility across all devices and software, convert .HEIF to JPG. If you need to preserve exact pixel data or graphic overlays, convert to PNG. For modern web delivery with excellent load speeds, convert to WEBP. Drop your file here to analyze and convert it securely right in your browser using convert.guru.
Use Convert.Guru to open and convert your HEIF file.
Users also converted HEVC, HEIC, EIF, HIF, EXIF, JPEG, ELF, HDF, JPG, TMP, MP4, PNG and TORRENT files.
If you want to convert HEIF file to PDF, PNG, HEIC, GIF, BMP, TIFF, TIF, ICO, CUR or PSD, you can use Apple Photos or similar software from the "High-Efficiency Image Storage" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert RAW, PNG, AI, NEF, PSB, DNG, SVG, GIF, EPS, JPG, ARW or PDF files to HEIF, try Apple Photos or another comparable tool in the "High-Efficiency Image Storage" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our HEIF converter.