{"id":955,"date":"2026-07-12T09:13:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T13:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/?p=955"},"modified":"2026-06-25T01:00:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T05:00:20","slug":"heic-vs-heif-vs-hevc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/heic-vs-heif-vs-hevc","title":{"rendered":"HEIC vs HEIF vs HEVC: What&#8217;s the Difference?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Three letters apart, used almost interchangeably online, and constantly mixed up: <strong>HEIC<\/strong>, <strong>HEIF<\/strong>, and <strong>HEVC<\/strong> are not three names for the same thing. One is a <em>codec<\/em>, one is a <em>container standard<\/em>, and one is <em>Apple\u2019s specific file<\/em>. Get the relationship straight and a lot of confusion \u2014 why your iPhone photo is a <code>.heic<\/code>, why \u201cHEVC\u201d shows up in your video settings, why a \u201cHEIF\u201d file and a \u201cHEIC\u201d file can be the same thing \u2014 falls neatly into place. We verified every standard name and ISO number below against MPEG\/Nokia\u2019s HEIF documentation, the Library of Congress format registry, and the ITU-T.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Quick answer:<\/strong> <strong>HEVC (H.265)<\/strong> is the <strong>compression codec<\/strong> \u2014 the algorithm that shrinks the picture (ISO\/IEC 23008-2, MPEG-H Part 2). <strong>HEIF<\/strong> is the <strong>container\/format standard<\/strong> that wraps an image and its metadata in a file (ISO\/IEC 23008-12, MPEG-H Part 12); it can hold images compressed by different codecs. <strong>HEIC<\/strong> is <strong>Apple\u2019s flavour of HEIF where the image is compressed with HEVC<\/strong>, saved with the <code>.heic<\/code> extension. Put simply: HEVC is the <em>how<\/em>, HEIF is the <em>box<\/em>, and HEIC is <em>Apple\u2019s box packed with HEVC<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Jump to a section<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"#relationship\">The one-sentence relationship<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#hevc\">HEVC: the codec<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#heif\">HEIF: the container standard<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#heic\">HEIC: Apple\u2019s HEIF-with-HEVC file<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#table\">Side-by-side table<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#confusion\">Why the names get confused<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#tool\">Convert HEIC on xconvert<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#faq\">FAQ<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#sources\">Sources<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"relationship\">The one-sentence relationship<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you remember nothing else, remember the nesting:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>HEVC is inside HEIF, and HEIC is Apple\u2019s name for that specific combination.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Think of shipping a fragile item. <strong>HEVC<\/strong> is the bubble-wrap technique that lets the item take up less space. <strong>HEIF<\/strong> is the box \u2014 it can be packed with bubble-wrap or some other padding, and it can also hold a packing slip (metadata), a depth map, even a sequence of items. <strong>HEIC<\/strong> is the box your iPhone ships: a HEIF box, packed specifically with HEVC bubble-wrap, with Apple\u2019s <code>.heic<\/code> label on the outside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That single layering \u2014 codec \u2192 container \u2192 vendor file \u2014 is the whole answer. The rest of this guide is just detail on each layer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"hevc\">HEVC: the codec<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>HEVC<\/strong> stands for <strong>High Efficiency Video Coding<\/strong>, and it is also known as <strong>H.265<\/strong>. It is a <em>compression codec<\/em> \u2014 an algorithm, not a file format. It was developed jointly by the ISO\/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) and the ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) through the Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC), and was first published in <strong>2013<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It carries two standard identities for the same thing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>ITU-T H.265<\/strong> \u2014 the ITU-T Recommendation.<\/li><li><strong>ISO\/IEC 23008-2<\/strong>, also called <strong>MPEG-H Part 2<\/strong> \u2014 the ISO\/IEC standard.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">HEVC\u2019s design goal was explicit: roughly the <strong>same visual quality as H.264\/AVC at about half the bitrate<\/strong> \u2014 Fraunhofer HHI, one of the institutes behind the standard, states it \u201cachieves about 50% bit-rate reduction at the same subjective video quality.\u201d It is primarily a <em>video<\/em> codec (it powers a lot of 4K and HDR video), but the same intra-frame compression machinery works beautifully on a single still image \u2014 which is exactly how it ends up inside your photos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If your interest is the video side of HEVC \u2014 when to encode video as H.265 versus the universal H.264 \u2014 that\u2019s a separate decision covered in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/h264-vs-h265-which-to-use\/\">H.264 vs H.265: Which Codec Should You Use<\/a>. Here the point is narrower: <strong>HEVC is the compression method that gets used <em>inside<\/em> a HEIC image.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"heif\">HEIF: the container standard<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>HEIF<\/strong> stands for <strong>High Efficiency Image File Format<\/strong>. It is the <strong>container<\/strong> \u2014 the file structure that holds an image (or several), plus thumbnails, EXIF metadata, depth maps, and other auxiliary data \u2014 built on the same ISO Base Media File Format (the structure under MP4). Its standard is <strong>ISO\/IEC 23008-12<\/strong>, also called <strong>MPEG-H Part 12<\/strong>, and it was developed by MPEG.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The crucial property, and the source of most of the confusion, is that <strong>HEIF is codec-agnostic<\/strong>. A HEIF container is defined by <em>how the file is structured<\/em>, not by <em>which codec<\/em> squeezed the image inside it. The initial specification defined storage for images compressed with <strong>HEVC (H.265)<\/strong>, and the format can in principle carry other codecs such as <strong>AVC (H.264)<\/strong> as well. In practice the overwhelming majority of HEIF files in the wild are HEVC-encoded \u2014 but the standard itself does not <em>require<\/em> HEVC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is why \u201cHEIF\u201d alone doesn\u2019t fully describe a file: it tells you the <em>box<\/em>, not the <em>padding<\/em>. To know how the image was compressed, you need to know the codec \u2014 which is precisely where HEIC comes in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"heic\">HEIC: Apple\u2019s HEIF-with-HEVC file<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>HEIC<\/strong> is the file Apple\u2019s devices actually produce, with the <strong><code>.heic<\/code><\/strong> extension. It is <strong>a HEIF container whose image data is compressed with HEVC<\/strong> \u2014 that specific, common combination. Per the HEIF documentation, the dedicated brand <code>heic<\/code> signals that <strong>HEVC (Main or Main Still Picture profile) is used<\/strong>; a generic, codec-unspecified file uses the <code>.heif<\/code> extension instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Apple adopted this as the default capture format starting with <strong>iOS 11 (2017)<\/strong> on recent iPhones and iPads, choosing it over JPEG to roughly halve photo storage. So when your iPhone saves a <code>.heic<\/code>, three things are true at once:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>It is a <strong>HEIF<\/strong> file (the container standard).<\/li><li>The image inside is compressed with <strong>HEVC \/ H.265<\/strong> (the codec).<\/li><li>Apple calls the result <strong>HEIC<\/strong> and gives it the <code>.heic<\/code> extension (the vendor file).<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s why people use \u201cHEIC\u201d and \u201cHEIF\u201d almost interchangeably for iPhone photos \u2014 for an Apple photo, the <code>.heic<\/code> file <em>is<\/em> a HEIF file using HEVC. They\u2019re describing different layers of the same object. (For the practical HEIC-vs-JPEG storage and compatibility trade-off, see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/heic-vs-jpg-iphone-photos\/\">HEIC vs JPG for iPhone Photos<\/a>; for the format on its own, see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/what-is-heic\/\">What Is HEIC?<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"table\">Side-by-side table<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><thead><tr><th><\/th><th>HEVC<\/th><th>HEIF<\/th><th>HEIC<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>What it is<\/strong><\/td><td>A compression <strong>codec<\/strong> (algorithm)<\/td><td>A <strong>container<\/strong> \/ file-format standard<\/td><td>Apple\u2019s specific <strong>file<\/strong> (a HEIF using HEVC)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Layer<\/strong><\/td><td>The <em>how<\/em> (compression)<\/td><td>The <em>box<\/em> (file structure)<\/td><td>The <em>vendor implementation<\/em><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Also known as<\/strong><\/td><td>H.265<\/td><td>High Efficiency Image File Format<\/td><td>\u201cHEIC\u201d (<code>.heic<\/code>)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Standard<\/strong><\/td><td>ITU-T H.265 \/ <strong>ISO\/IEC 23008-2<\/strong> (MPEG-H Part 2)<\/td><td><strong>ISO\/IEC 23008-12<\/strong> (MPEG-H Part 12)<\/td><td>A profile\/brand <em>of<\/em> HEIF \u2014 not its own ISO number<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>First published<\/strong><\/td><td>2013<\/td><td>Initial spec; Apple adopted via iOS 11 (2017)<\/td><td>iOS 11, 2017<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Extension<\/strong><\/td><td>n\/a (it\u2019s a codec, lives inside containers)<\/td><td><code>.heif<\/code> (codec-agnostic)<\/td><td><code>.heic<\/code> (HEVC inside)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Can exist without the others?<\/strong><\/td><td>Yes \u2014 HEVC is widely used for <strong>video<\/strong> with no HEIF involved<\/td><td>Yes \u2014 HEIF can in principle hold non-HEVC images<\/td><td>No \u2014 HEIC <em>is<\/em> HEIF + HEVC by definition<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The single most useful row is the last one: <strong>HEVC happily exists without HEIF (it\u2019s a major video codec), and HEIF can in principle exist without HEVC \u2014 but HEIC cannot exist without both.<\/strong> HEIC is the intersection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"confusion\">Why the names get confused<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A few reasons these three blur together in everyday use:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>They share a family name.<\/strong> \u201cHigh Efficiency\u201d leads all three (Video Coding, Image File Format, and the implied Image), and they came out of the same MPEG-H effort, so the names rhyme.<\/li><li><strong>For iPhone photos, all three are simultaneously true.<\/strong> A <code>.heic<\/code> is a HEIF file, encoded with HEVC, named HEIC by Apple \u2014 so people grab whichever term they remember and are technically pointing at the same file.<\/li><li><strong>HEVC shows up in two places.<\/strong> You\u2019ll see \u201cHEVC\u201d in your <em>video<\/em> settings (as the H.265 video codec) <em>and<\/em> hear it described as \u201cwhat\u2019s inside HEIC\u201d for <em>photos<\/em>. Same codec, two media.<\/li><li><strong>The extension hides the codec.<\/strong> A file ending in <code>.heif<\/code> doesn\u2019t tell you the codec; <code>.heic<\/code> specifically signals HEVC. Most tools and people treat <code>.heif<\/code> and <code>.heic<\/code> as synonyms because, in practice, almost all of them are HEVC anyway.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The clean mental model that survives all of this: <strong>codec \u2282 container \u2282 vendor file.<\/strong> HEVC is the codec, HEIF is the container that can wrap it, and HEIC is Apple\u2019s HEIF-wrapped-around-HEVC file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"tool\">Convert HEIC on xconvert<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whatever you call it, the practical problem is the same: a <code>.heic<\/code> from an iPhone won\u2019t open on Windows, in Chrome\/Firefox\/Edge, on many printers, or in older apps \u2014 only <strong>Safari 17+<\/strong> decodes HEIF\/HEIC natively among browsers. The fix is to convert it to a universal JPG. With the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/convert-heic-to-jpg\">xconvert HEIC to JPG converter<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Open <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/convert-heic-to-jpg\">xconvert.com\/convert-heic-to-jpg<\/a> and click <strong>Upload<\/strong> (or <strong>+ Add Files<\/strong>) to add your photos \u2014 from <strong>my Computer<\/strong>, <strong>Google Drive<\/strong>, or <strong>Dropbox<\/strong>.<\/li><li>(Optional) Open <strong>Advanced Options<\/strong> to set the <strong>Quality Preset<\/strong> \u2014 it defaults to <strong>Very High (Recommended)<\/strong> \u2014 and choose the <strong>JPEG<\/strong> or <strong>JPG<\/strong> extension.<\/li><li>Click <strong>Convert<\/strong>.<\/li><li>Download each <strong>JPG<\/strong> individually, or grab everything as a <strong>ZIP<\/strong>.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because xconvert decodes the HEVC inside the HEIC <strong>on our servers<\/strong>, it doesn\u2019t matter that your own browser or OS can\u2019t read it natively. Files upload over an encrypted connection, are processed on our servers, and are <strong>deleted automatically a few hours later<\/strong> \u2014 nothing lingers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If a converted JPG comes out larger than you\u2019d like (JPEG is a less efficient codec than HEVC, so it can be bigger than the original <code>.heic<\/code>), run it through <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/compress-jpeg\">compress JPEG<\/a> to trim it back down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"faq\">FAQ<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Is HEIC the same as HEIF?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Almost \u2014 HEIC is a specific kind of HEIF.<\/strong> HEIF is the container standard (ISO\/IEC 23008-12); HEIC is the <code>.heic<\/code> file Apple produces, which is a HEIF container holding an image compressed with the HEVC codec. Every HEIC file is a HEIF file, but a HEIF file isn\u2019t necessarily a HEIC (it could, in principle, use a different codec). For iPhone photos the terms are used interchangeably because the <code>.heic<\/code> <em>is<\/em> a HEIF using HEVC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What\u2019s the difference between HEIC and HEVC?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>HEVC is the compression codec; HEIC is the image file that uses it.<\/strong> HEVC (H.265, ISO\/IEC 23008-2) is an algorithm that shrinks the picture \u2014 and it\u2019s also a major <em>video<\/em> codec. HEIC is a still-image <em>file<\/em> (an Apple HEIF) whose pixels were compressed by HEVC. So HEVC is the method inside; HEIC is the file outside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Is HEIF a codec or a container?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>A container.<\/strong> HEIF (High Efficiency Image File Format) defines how an image, its metadata, thumbnails, and depth data are <em>stored<\/em> in a file \u2014 not how the pixels are <em>compressed<\/em>. The compression is done by a codec such as HEVC. That separation is exactly why HEIF can, in principle, hold images from more than one codec.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Can a HEIF file use a codec other than HEVC?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Yes, in principle.<\/strong> HEIF is codec-agnostic by design; its initial spec defined HEVC storage and the format can also carry AVC (H.264). In practice, the vast majority of HEIF\/HEIC files you\u2019ll encounter are HEVC-encoded \u2014 which is why the <code>.heic<\/code> brand specifically signals HEVC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why does my iPhone photo end in .heic and not .heif?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because Apple uses the <strong><code>.heic<\/code><\/strong> extension specifically to signal that the HEIF file inside is <strong>compressed with HEVC<\/strong> (the HEVC Main \/ Main Still Picture profile). The generic, codec-unspecified extension is <code>.heif<\/code>. Apple made HEIC the default capture format on recent iPhones starting with <strong>iOS 11 in 2017<\/strong> to roughly halve photo storage versus JPEG.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Which is better quality, HEIC or HEVC \u2014 or are they comparable?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The question mixes layers. <strong>HEVC is the codec doing the compressing; HEIC is the file format that uses it<\/strong> \u2014 so they aren\u2019t competing quality options. The meaningful comparison is <strong>HEIC (HEVC-compressed) vs JPEG<\/strong>, where HEIC delivers similar visual quality at roughly half the size. See <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/heic-vs-jpg-iphone-photos\/\">HEIC vs JPG for iPhone Photos<\/a> for that comparison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sources<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Last verified 2026-06-25.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/nokiatech.github.io\/heif\/technical.html\">Nokia Technologies \u2014 HEIF Technical Information<\/a> \u2014 HEIF as ISO\/IEC 23008-12, built on the ISO Base Media File Format; HEVC (ISO\/IEC 23008-2) as the encoded image data; the <code>heic<\/code> brand signalling HEVC Main \/ Main Still Picture profile versus the generic <code>.heif<\/code> extension.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/preservation\/digital\/formats\/fdd\/fdd000525.shtml\">Library of Congress \u2014 HEIF (High Efficiency Image File) Format, MPEG-H Part 12<\/a> \u2014 HEIF defined as MPEG-H Part 12 \/ ISO\/IEC 23008-12, a container based on ISO-BMFF supporting HEVC, AVC, and other codecs.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/preservation\/digital\/formats\/fdd\/fdd000530.shtml\">Library of Congress \u2014 High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), H.265, MPEG-H Part 2<\/a> \u2014 HEVC as H.265 \/ ISO\/IEC 23008-2 \/ MPEG-H Part 2, first published 2013, ~2\u00d7 the compression of H.264.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hhi.fraunhofer.de\/en\/departments\/vca\/technologies-and-solutions\/h265-hevc.html\">Fraunhofer HHI \u2014 H.265 \/ HEVC<\/a> \u2014 \u201cHEVC achieves about 50% bit-rate reduction at the same subjective video quality\u201d versus H.264\/AVC; JCT-VC development.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/support.apple.com\/en-us\/116944\">Apple \u2014 Using HEIF or HEVC media on Apple devices<\/a> \u2014 Apple\u2019s adoption of HEIF\/HEVC (iOS 11), the <code>.heic<\/code> file, and \u201cbetter compression than JPEG \/ less storage space\u201d framing.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/caniuse.com\/heif\">caniuse \u2014 HEIF\/HEIC image format<\/a> \u2014 browser support: Safari 17+ only; Chrome, Firefox, and Edge unsupported; ~14% global; licensing as the reason support is limited.<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>HEIC vs HEIF vs HEVC explained: HEVC is the codec, HEIF is the container, HEIC is Apple&#8217;s HEIF-with-HEVC file. The difference, with standards cited.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":954,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to-guides","category-tools"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>HEIC vs HEIF vs HEVC: What&#039;s the Difference?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"HEIC vs HEIF vs HEVC explained: HEVC is the codec, HEIF is the container, HEIC is Apple&#039;s HEIF-with-HEVC file. The difference, with standards cited.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/heic-vs-heif-vs-hevc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"HEIC vs HEIF vs HEVC: What&#039;s the Difference?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"HEIC vs HEIF vs HEVC explained: HEVC is the codec, HEIF is the container, HEIC is Apple&#039;s HEIF-with-HEVC file. The difference, with standards cited.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/heic-vs-heif-vs-hevc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"XConvert Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/xconvertcom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-12T13:13:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/featured-90.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"840\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@xconvert_com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@xconvert_com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/heic-vs-heif-vs-hevc#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/heic-vs-heif-vs-hevc\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"James\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3434db135e6a7f239ba8414244df9845\"},\"headline\":\"HEIC vs HEIF vs HEVC: What&#8217;s the Difference?\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-12T13:13:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/heic-vs-heif-vs-hevc\"},\"wordCount\":2036,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/heic-vs-heif-vs-hevc#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/featured-90.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"How To Guides\",\"Tools\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/heic-vs-heif-vs-hevc\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/heic-vs-heif-vs-hevc\",\"name\":\"HEIC vs HEIF vs HEVC: What's the Difference?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/heic-vs-heif-vs-hevc#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/heic-vs-heif-vs-hevc#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/featured-90.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-12T13:13:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3434db135e6a7f239ba8414244df9845\"},\"description\":\"HEIC vs HEIF vs HEVC explained: HEVC is the codec, HEIF is the container, HEIC is Apple's HEIF-with-HEVC file. The difference, with standards cited.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/heic-vs-heif-vs-hevc#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/heic-vs-heif-vs-hevc\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/heic-vs-heif-vs-hevc#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/featured-90.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/featured-90.png\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":840,\"caption\":\"The xconvert HEIC to JPG Converter at \\\/convert-heic-to-jpg with the Upload button highlighted \u2014 upload a .heic photo to convert it to a universal JPG\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/heic-vs-heif-vs-hevc#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"HEIC vs HEIF vs HEVC: What&#8217;s the Difference?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"XConvert Blog\",\"description\":\"Blog for XConvert file converter\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3434db135e6a7f239ba8414244df9845\",\"name\":\"James\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/46be416a360dc6b95bffc4b116d86872c03f8d8e4c1047a3a08033742f03d04d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/46be416a360dc6b95bffc4b116d86872c03f8d8e4c1047a3a08033742f03d04d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/46be416a360dc6b95bffc4b116d86872c03f8d8e4c1047a3a08033742f03d04d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.xconvert.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/james\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"HEIC vs HEIF vs HEVC: What's the Difference?","description":"HEIC vs HEIF vs HEVC explained: HEVC is the codec, HEIF is the container, HEIC is Apple's HEIF-with-HEVC file. The difference, with standards cited.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/heic-vs-heif-vs-hevc","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"HEIC vs HEIF vs HEVC: What's the Difference?","og_description":"HEIC vs HEIF vs HEVC explained: HEVC is the codec, HEIF is the container, HEIC is Apple's HEIF-with-HEVC file. The difference, with standards cited.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/heic-vs-heif-vs-hevc","og_site_name":"XConvert Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/xconvertcom","article_published_time":"2026-07-12T13:13:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":840,"url":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/featured-90.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"James","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@xconvert_com","twitter_site":"@xconvert_com","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James","Est. reading time":"10 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/heic-vs-heif-vs-hevc#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/heic-vs-heif-vs-hevc"},"author":{"name":"James","@id":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3434db135e6a7f239ba8414244df9845"},"headline":"HEIC vs HEIF vs HEVC: What&#8217;s the Difference?","datePublished":"2026-07-12T13:13:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/heic-vs-heif-vs-hevc"},"wordCount":2036,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/heic-vs-heif-vs-hevc#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/featured-90.png","articleSection":["How To Guides","Tools"],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/heic-vs-heif-vs-hevc","url":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/heic-vs-heif-vs-hevc","name":"HEIC vs HEIF vs HEVC: What's the Difference?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/heic-vs-heif-vs-hevc#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/heic-vs-heif-vs-hevc#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/featured-90.png","datePublished":"2026-07-12T13:13:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3434db135e6a7f239ba8414244df9845"},"description":"HEIC vs HEIF vs HEVC explained: HEVC is the codec, HEIF is the container, HEIC is Apple's HEIF-with-HEVC file. The difference, with standards cited.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/heic-vs-heif-vs-hevc#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/heic-vs-heif-vs-hevc"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/heic-vs-heif-vs-hevc#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/featured-90.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/featured-90.png","width":1600,"height":840,"caption":"The xconvert HEIC to JPG Converter at \/convert-heic-to-jpg with the Upload button highlighted \u2014 upload a .heic photo to convert it to a universal JPG"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/heic-vs-heif-vs-hevc#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"HEIC vs HEIF vs HEVC: What&#8217;s the Difference?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/","name":"XConvert Blog","description":"Blog for XConvert file converter","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3434db135e6a7f239ba8414244df9845","name":"James","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/46be416a360dc6b95bffc4b116d86872c03f8d8e4c1047a3a08033742f03d04d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/46be416a360dc6b95bffc4b116d86872c03f8d8e4c1047a3a08033742f03d04d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/46be416a360dc6b95bffc4b116d86872c03f8d8e4c1047a3a08033742f03d04d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"James"},"url":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/author\/james"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=955"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":956,"href":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955\/revisions\/956"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}