HEIC format explained: iPhone photos on Android and PC

What HEIC is

HEIC is the HEIF container with HEVC-compressed images, the default on iPhones since iOS 11. Photos are about half the size of JPG at the same quality, and the container can hold bursts, live photos and depth maps.

The catch is licensing: HEVC decoders are patented, so many apps and services simply don't ship one. That is why a HEIC arrives on an Android phone or a Windows PC and refuses to open.

Use HEIC when

• Staying inside the Apple ecosystem, where it is seamless and saves storage.

Avoid HEIC when

• Sharing with Android or Windows users, uploading to forms and web apps, or printing.
• Any workflow outside Apple software: convert to JPG first.

How ConvertX handles HEIC

• Android 9 or later: ConvertX asks the system's own HEIC decoder to open the file, then converts it on the device. Display-P3 photos are converted to standard sRGB colour.
• Android 7 and 8 and all desktop builds show "This device can't open HEIC photos"; the rest of the batch continues.
• The compressor saves HEIC as JPG (maximum quality in "Exact quality" mode, the preset's quality in "Smaller files").
• ConvertX never writes HEIC.

Extensions: .heic, .heif. Metadata: no EXIF is written by ConvertX.

Need the file smaller rather than in another format? See compress HEIC.