MP4 to HEIF Converter

How to Convert MP4 to HEIF Online

1. Upload Your MP4 File: Drag and drop or click "Add Files" to select MP4 or M4V videos. Batch upload is supported — extract frames from several clips in one pass.
2. Pick Frame Selection: Choose "Specific Frame" and enter a Time (seconds) value with decimals supported (e.g., 2.100 = 2 s 100 ms), or "Multiple Screenshots" with an interval from every 0.1 s (10 fps) up to every 10 s.
3. Tune Image Compression and Resolution (Optional): Pick a Quality Preset (Highest / Very High / High / Medium / Low / Very Low / Lowest), set a Specific file size in KB or MB with Smart Scaling, or use the Image Quality (%) slider (1–100). Resolution accepts Keep original, Resolution Percentage, a Preset Resolution from 4320p down to 144p, or custom Width × Height.
4. Convert and Download: Click "Convert." Files are processed in your browser session — no sign-up, no watermark, no account required.

Why Convert MP4 to HEIF?

HEIF (High Efficiency Image Format, ISO/IEC 23008-12, finalized 2015) is a still-image container that most commonly stores HEVC-encoded frames — the same codec your iPhone uses for .heic photos since iOS 11 (2017). Pulling stills out of an MP4 as HEIF gives you Apple-native images at roughly half the size of equivalent JPEGs, with 10-bit color and alpha support that JPEG cannot match.

• iPhone-consistent stills from screen recordings or AirDrop clips — When your camera roll already saves photos as .heic (iPhone 7 and later, default "High Efficiency" mode), exporting frames as HEIF keeps Photos.app sorting, EXIF, and color rendering consistent with the rest of your library.
• Thumbnail generation for video apps — A 1080p HEIF poster frame is typically 60–150 KB versus 200–400 KB for an equivalent JPEG, which adds up across a streaming catalog or a feed of user uploads.
• High-fidelity reference frames for editing — HEVC's 10-bit support preserves smooth gradients in skies and skin tones that 8-bit JPEG bands. Useful when extracting a reference still for color grading or retouching in Affinity Photo, Pixelmator Pro, or Photoshop.
• Live Photo decomposition — A Live Photo on iPhone is already a HEIC still + an HEVC .mov. If you have only the MOV, you can recreate the still half. (For MOV inputs specifically, MOV to HEIF is the direct path.)
• Storage-efficient screenshots from long footage — Sampling every 1–2 seconds from an hour of 4K MP4 produces hundreds of frames; HEIF's HEVC compression keeps the dump manageable without the lossless bloat of PNG.
• Future-proofing for Apple ecosystems — macOS Sonoma, iPadOS 17, and visionOS all read HEIF natively. Exporting once as HEIF avoids re-encoding later when sharing across Apple devices.

MP4 vs HEIF — Container Comparison

HEIF Quality Preset Guide

Sizes are approximate and depend heavily on scene complexity — a frame of a flat blue sky compresses to a small fraction of the size of a frame full of foliage.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the difference between HEIF and HEIC?

HEIF is the container standard (ISO/IEC 23008-12). HEIC is the specific variant where the container holds HEVC-encoded image data — Apple's .heic photos are HEIC files. In casual usage the names are often interchangeable, but a HEIF file could in principle carry AV1 or even JPEG data instead of HEVC. xconvert's MP4-to-HEIF output writes HEVC-encoded HEIF (i.e., HEIC-compatible) so it opens cleanly in Apple Photos.

Can I extract a frame at a precise sub-second timestamp?

Yes. Under "Specific Frame," the Time (seconds) field accepts decimals to millisecond precision — 3.500 extracts at 3 s 500 ms, 12.025 at 12 s 25 ms. The actual frame returned is the nearest encoded frame to that time; for sources with sparse keyframes the nearest neighbor may be a few hundredths of a second off the target.

Will my Windows PC open the HEIF output?

Windows 11 (22H2 and newer) plays HEIF in Photos, File Explorer previews, and Paint without setup. Windows 10 (1803+) requires the free "HEIF Image Extensions" package from the Microsoft Store, plus the "HEVC Video Extensions" codec for files that include HEVC-encoded image data (most do). If you need universal compatibility, extract as JPEG via MP4 to JPEG instead.

How do HEIF stills compare to AVIF or JPEG XL frames?

HEIF (HEVC) and AVIF (AV1) sit in the same modern-codec tier — both produce 1080p stills in the 60–150 KB range and both support 10-bit color and alpha. AVIF has the edge in browser support (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari 16.4+) while HEIF wins on Apple-device integration. JPEG XL is technically excellent but currently lacks Safari and Chrome stable support. For Apple workflows pick HEIF; for the open web pick AVIF.

Can I batch-extract one frame per second across an entire video?

Yes. Choose "Multiple Screenshots" and set the interval to every 1 second. The tool walks the timeline and emits a HEIF for each interval mark, then bundles them in a downloadable archive. For a 5-minute clip at 1 fps you'll get 300 frames; raise the interval to every 5 or 10 seconds for sparser coverage.

Does my HEIF keep the source video's color profile?

The frame is decoded in the video's native color space (typically Rec. 709 for SDR MP4) and re-encoded into HEIF, which supports tagged color profiles. HDR10 / Dolby Vision metadata from PQ-encoded MP4 sources is not preserved as HDR — the frame is tone-mapped to SDR before HEIF encoding. If you need wide-gamut HDR stills, work from RAW or OpenEXR sources instead.

Can I lower the resolution to shrink the file further?

Yes. Resolution Percentage scales by 1–100% of the source dimensions; Preset Resolutions snap to standard heights from 4320p (8K) down to 144p; or you can enter a custom Width × Height in pixels (aspect-locked individually). For a 4K MP4 that you only need as a 1080p HEIF, scaling to 50% halves both dimensions and typically cuts the HEIF file size to roughly a quarter.

Are my files uploaded to a server?

Files are uploaded to xconvert for processing (HEVC encoding is GPU/CPU-intensive and not yet practical fully in-browser for arbitrary MP4 inputs) and removed after the session ends. Conversions don't require a sign-up or account, and there's no watermark on the output.

What if I want a single image with the whole video as a contact sheet?

That's a different output. xconvert's MP4-to-HEIF emits one HEIF file per extracted frame. For an animated GIF preview of the full clip, see MP4 to GIF. To convert an existing HEIF back to a more universal format, use HEIF to JPG.