BMP to HEIC Converter

Convert BMP to HEIC Online

A BMP is an uncompressed Windows bitmap, so even a modest photo can run to tens of megabytes. Converting it to HEIC re-encodes the same pixels with HEVC (H.265) inside an HEIF container, typically cutting the file to roughly half the size of an equivalent JPEG while keeping HDR-grade color and transparency. HEIC is lossy, so this trades a small amount of fidelity for a dramatic size drop — ideal when you are feeding images into the Apple ecosystem, where HEIC opens natively on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.

How to Convert BMP to HEIC

1. Upload Your BMP File: Drag and drop your bitmap onto the page or click "Add Files." You can queue several BMPs and convert them in one batch.
2. Set the Quality Preset: Open Advanced Options and choose a Quality Preset — "Very High" is the default and keeps photographic detail; drop to "High" or "Medium" if you want an even smaller HEIC.
3. Cap the Size (Optional): Switch to "Target file size (%)" or "Specific file size" if you need the output under a hard limit, or use the resolution presets to scale the image down at the same time.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert and save your HEIC. No sign-up, no watermark.

BMP vs HEIC at a Glance

If you need a small file that opens everywhere — not just on Apple hardware — convert to BMP to PNG for lossless output or BMP to JPG for the most universal photo format instead.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much smaller will my HEIC be than the BMP?

It depends on the image, but the drop is large because you are going from no compression to modern lossy compression. A HEIC encoded with HEVC is usually around half the size of an equivalent-quality JPEG, and a JPEG is already a fraction of an uncompressed BMP — so a multi-megabyte bitmap commonly lands in the low hundreds of kilobytes. Lower the Quality Preset or set a target file size if you need it smaller still.

Will I lose image quality converting BMP to HEIC?

Some, yes. BMP stores every pixel losslessly, while HEIC re-encodes with HEVC, which discards detail the eye is least likely to notice. At the "Very High" preset the loss is hard to spot on photos, but for line art, screenshots, or images you will edit repeatedly, a lossless format like PNG preserves the original pixels exactly.

Which devices and apps can open a HEIC file?

HEIC opens natively on macOS High Sierra and later, iOS and iPadOS 11+, Android 8+, and Windows 10 (1803+) once the HEVC/HEIF extensions are installed. In the browser, only Safari displays HEIC directly — Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera, and Android's Chrome do not, which is why HEIC is best kept for Apple-centric workflows. If you need it elsewhere, run HEIC to JPG afterward.

Does HEIC keep transparency from a 32-bit BMP?

It can. HEIF stores transparency in a separate alpha plane, so an image with an alpha channel can carry it into HEIC. That said, transparency in BMP only exists in the newer V3/V4/V5 header variants and is rarely used in practice; if your bitmap is fully opaque there is nothing to preserve.

What is the difference between HEIC and HEIF?

HEIF is the container standard (ISO/IEC 23008-12, published by MPEG in 2015) that can hold images encoded with different codecs. HEIC is Apple's name for an HEIF file whose images are encoded with HEVC (H.265) — the variant Apple cameras and the Photos app produce. In our testing, every BMP we converted on this page came out as an HEVC-in-HEIF still, which is what iOS and macOS expect when they read a .heic extension.