To convert other file formats to the "High Efficiency Image File" file type, you need software like Canon Digital Photo Professional or a similar tool.
About HIF files
A .HIF file is predominantly a Canon High Efficiency Image Format (HEIF) image file. Modern Canon cameras, such as the EOS-1D X Mark III, use this format to capture 10-bit HDR (High Dynamic Range) images. These files utilize an internal MP4 container and apply HEVC (H.265) compression, drastically reducing file size compared to RAW formats while maintaining deep color gradients. Aside from photography, the .HIF extension is also used in industrial settings. It can represent an X-ray baggage scanner image generated by Smiths Detection equipment, a butt welding data log file from HÜRNER Schweisstechnik, or macOS resource fork metadata. Because it is highly specialized and relies on proprietary HDR metadata, the .HIF format is notoriously difficult to open. Standard web browsers, older operating systems, and basic image viewers universally fail to read these files natively. Users are typically forced to convert .HIF to JPG or PNG to share photos on social media or view them on non-HDR displays. When converting a 10-bit HDR .HIF to a standard 8-bit JPG, users inevitably lose dynamic range and color depth. Since these files use a heavily guarded, highly specialized HEVC compression wrapper, standard online converters often fail to process them. Often, only original software like Canon Digital Photo Professional can properly read or export the data. If our analysis detects a supported underlying or embedded format, viewing or conversion may still be possible.
Convert.Guru analyzes your HIF file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
If you want to convert HIF file to JPEG, JPG, PDF, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, TIF, WEBP, ICO, CUR or PSD, you can use Canon Digital Photo Professional 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 HIF, try Canon Digital Photo Professional or another comparable tool in the "High Efficiency Image Storage" category.
The HIF Converter Story
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 HIF converter.