HEIF to AVIF Converter

HEIF vs AVIF — Which Should You Convert To?

If you have iPhone or Android HEIF photos that won't open or display on the web, AVIF is almost always the better target. Both are modern, highly compressed formats built on the same container family, but AVIF opens in nearly every current browser while HEIF is stuck behind Apple's ecosystem. Convert to AVIF when you want to publish or share images online; stay on HEIF only if every device in your workflow is Apple and you want to keep Apple's native pipeline.

Side-by-side Comparison

Both formats descend from the same ISO base media container, so the change here is the codec inside the box (HEVC to AV1) plus a license change (encumbered to royalty-free), not a wholesale rebuild of the file.

When to Pick HEIF (HEIC)

• Your entire pipeline is Apple — Photos, iCloud, Preview — and you want to keep the camera's native format with no conversion step.
• You are archiving the original capture and want to preserve exactly what the device wrote.
• You rely on HEVC hardware decode that's already present on your Apple devices.

When to Pick AVIF

• You're publishing iPhone or HEIF photos to a website, blog, or CMS and need them to render in Chrome, Firefox, and Edge — not just Safari.
• You want a single open, royalty-free format for a mixed image library instead of a patent-encumbered one.
• You need strong compression for web delivery while keeping HDR, wide-gamut color, and alpha transparency.
• You want to avoid HEVC licensing friction in your own software or hosting stack.

How to Convert HEIF to AVIF

1. Upload Your HEIF File: Drag and drop your .heif files onto the page or click "+ Add Files" to browse. You can queue several images and convert them with the same settings.
2. Pick a Quality Preset: Open Advanced Options and choose a Quality Preset — "Very High" is the default and keeps detail close to the source while still shrinking the file. Lower presets trade visible quality for smaller AVIF output.
3. Resize if Needed (Optional): Use Resolution Percentage or a Preset Resolution to scale the image down for web use, or set a target file size; leave "Keep original" to preserve full dimensions.
4. Convert and Download: Click "Convert" and download your AVIF file. No sign-up, no watermark.

For iPhone files that carry the .heic extension, use HEIC to AVIF instead — this page accepts .heif. If you need maximum compatibility with old software, HEIF to JPG outputs a universally readable image. To go the other way, see AVIF to HEIF.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is AVIF better than HEIF for putting photos on the web?

For web use, yes. HEIF renders natively only in Safari 17 and later — roughly 14% of browsers by global usage per caniuse — so the same file shows as broken or unknown in Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. AVIF is supported by about 93% of browsers (Chrome 85+, Firefox 93+, Edge 121+, Safari 16.4+, Opera 71+), so converting widens compatibility dramatically while keeping modern compression. HEIF still makes sense for an all-Apple storage workflow.

Will I lose quality converting HEIF to AVIF?

Both formats are lossy by default, so a HEIF-to-AVIF conversion is a lossy-to-lossy transcode: the original HEVC compression is decoded and the image is re-encoded with AV1. You won't recover detail that HEIF already discarded, and a second lossy pass can introduce minor softening. In our testing, a high-quality preset keeps the difference hard to spot at normal viewing sizes. If the image is a master you'll edit again, keep the HEIF original for archiving and treat the AVIF as a delivery copy.

Are AVIF and HEIF the same format?

They're container siblings, not the same format. Both are built on the ISO/IEC 23008-12 (HEIF) family over the ISO base media file format, and AVIF files are designed to be conformant HEIF files. The difference is the codec inside: HEIF/HEIC stores HEVC (H.265)-coded image data, while AVIF stores AV1-coded data. That codec swap is also why AVIF is royalty-free and HEVC-based HEIF is patent-encumbered.

Does this page accept .heic files from my iPhone?

This converter accepts .heif files. iPhones typically write .heic, which is HEVC-coded image data in the same HEIF container — the extension differs but the family is the same. If your files end in .heic, use the HEIC to AVIF converter, which is set up for that extension.

Why does AVIF have so much wider browser support than HEIF?

It comes down to licensing. HEIF's HEVC codec carries patent royalties, which made browser vendors reluctant to ship decoders. AVIF's AV1 codec was published royalty-free by the Alliance for Open Media in 2019, so Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Opera adopted it quickly, and Safari followed in 16.4. Same container heritage, very different licensing — and that's what drove adoption.

Does converting to AVIF keep HDR and transparency?

AVIF supports HDR, wide-gamut color, and alpha transparency, so those properties can carry through the conversion rather than being flattened. Whether a specific attribute survives depends on what the source HEIF actually stored and the quality settings you choose. For photographic images these capabilities are preserved well; if you need an exact color-managed match, verify the output on your target display.

How does the file upload and retention work?

Your HEIF file is uploaded over an encrypted connection, converted on our servers, and the result is sent back for download. Files are deleted automatically a few hours after conversion — no sign-up, no watermark, and nothing is shared or made public. The practical limit on a big upload is your connection speed and the file's size, not your device.