Video to HEIF Converter

How to Convert Video to HEIF Online

1. Upload Your Video File: Drag and drop or click "Add Files" to select any video — MP4, MOV, MKV, AVI, WebM, MTS, M2TS, FLV, WMV, 3GP, MPEG, AVCHD, and 30+ other formats are accepted. Batch upload is supported.
2. Pick Frame Selection: Choose "Specific Frame" and enter a timestamp in Seconds (e.g., 2.100 for 2 seconds and 100 milliseconds) to grab a single still, or "Multiple Screenshots" to extract several frames at evenly spaced intervals across the video.
3. Set Image Compression and Resolution (Optional): Under Image Compression, pick a Quality Preset (defaults to Very High (Recommended)), set a Specific file size in MB or KB, or fine-tune Image Quality from 1-100%. Under Image Resolution, scale by Resolution Percentage, Keep original, pick a Preset Resolution (up to 2160p), or set custom Width / Height / Width x Height.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert. Files process in your browser session — no sign-up, no watermark, originals never leave your tab.

Why Convert Video to HEIF?

HEIF (High Efficiency Image File Format, ISO/IEC 23008-12) stores still images inside an HEVC-coded container, the same compression family Apple shipped natively with iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra 10.13 in 2017. Extracting a frame from a video as HEIF — rather than JPEG or PNG — keeps the still roughly 40-50% smaller than a comparable JPEG at the same perceived quality and preserves the 10-bit color depth that modern phones and cinema cameras record, which a legacy 8-bit JPEG would clip.

• Native fit for the Apple ecosystem — iPhone 7 and later, iPad (6th gen) and later, iPad Air (3rd gen) and later, iPad mini (5th gen) and later, plus iPad Pro and Apple Vision Pro all default to HEIF for camera captures. Frames extracted as HEIF drop straight into Photos, Messages, AirDrop, and iCloud Photo Library without any conversion overhead.
• Cinematographer stills from log/HDR footage — Pulling a frame from 10-bit HEVC video (iPhone Pro ProRes/HEVC, Sony A7S III, Canon C70) as 8-bit JPEG crushes highlight and shadow detail. HEIF retains the bit depth so a screenshot from HDR footage actually looks like the source.
• Thumbnails and posters for HEVC video libraries — A Plex or Infuse library full of HEVC files matches well with HEIF posters that share the same codec, saving disk on a NAS holding thousands of stills.
• Product / e-commerce captures from recorded demos — A 4K HEIF still from a product video at 80% quality typically lands at 200-500 KB versus 1-2 MB for the same JPEG, useful when you need many shots in a catalog.
• Reference frames during edit review — Cutting a long shoot? Burst-extract Multiple Screenshots as HEIF and share a quick contact sheet with the client without ballooning the email attachment.
• App-icon and screenshot prep for iOS apps — Xcode and Apple's developer tooling accept HEIF natively for image assets, so the workflow stays in one format end to end.

HEIF vs JPEG vs PNG for Video Frame Extraction

Image Compression Options Quick Guide

Frequently Asked Questions

Why use HEIF instead of HEIC for video frames?

The two formats share the HEIF container and HEVC codec — .heic is Apple's branding for HEIF single images on iOS, and .heif is the more generic extension. Files are functionally interchangeable; pick .heif for compatibility with tools that expect the open ISO/IEC 23008-12 extension, and pick Video to HEIC if your downstream workflow (Apple Photos library import, iMessage embedding) specifically wants the .heic extension.

What does the Specific Frame timestamp format mean?

Enter the time in seconds with optional decimal milliseconds. 2.100 is 2 seconds and 100 milliseconds (2.1 seconds) into the video; 12.500 is 12.5 seconds. The extractor decodes the GOP containing that timestamp and outputs the closest displayed frame, so a request for 2.100 on a 30 fps video returns the frame at index 63.

Specific Frame or Multiple Screenshots — which should I pick?

Specific Frame is for when you know the moment you want (a particular gesture, a frame from a known timecode). Multiple Screenshots distributes captures evenly across the runtime and is the right choice when you want a contact sheet, a chapter thumbnail set, or a sampling to pick the best frame from after the fact.

Will the HEIF preserve 10-bit color from HEVC video?

The extractor passes through the source bit depth where possible. If the input is a 10-bit HEVC file (iPhone ProRes/HEVC capture, Sony XAVC HS, Canon HEVC HDR), the HEIF still is encoded at 10-bit, which preserves smoother gradients in skies and skin tones that an 8-bit JPEG would band. 8-bit sources stay 8-bit; the codec does not invent precision that was not there.

Can Windows open the resulting HEIF file?

Windows 10 (1803+) and Windows 11 open HEIF natively once you install the free "HEIF Image Extensions" package from the Microsoft Store. To play HEVC-coded HEIF you may also need Microsoft's "HEVC Video Extensions" (paid, around $0.99). For a recipient without either extension, extract as JPEG using Video to JPEG instead.

How small can the HEIF be compared to PNG?

A typical 4K (3840x2160) still from a movie scene runs 8-15 MB as a 24-bit PNG, around 800-2000 KB as a quality-80 JPEG, and around 200-500 KB as a quality-80 HEIF. The gap is roughly 20-40x smaller than PNG and 3-5x smaller than JPEG for photographic content. For frames that are mostly flat color with sharp text (UI screencaps), PNG can still beat HEIF — HEVC's lossy DCT introduces ringing around text edges that PNG's lossless DEFLATE avoids.

Does the tool handle 8K or HDR (HLG / PQ) source video?

Yes. The HEIF container itself supports resolutions up to 8192x4320 and BT.2020 / PQ / HLG color spaces. The extracted still inherits the source's color primaries and transfer function when the input is tagged correctly. For HDR HEIF playback you still need a viewer that handles HDR images — Photos on iOS 15+ and macOS Monterey+ do; most browsers in 2026 do not yet.

Why does my HEIF look the same as JPEG at 100% quality?

At quality factor 100 both codecs approach near-lossless behavior on natural images and visual difference shrinks. The HEIF advantage shows up at lower quality factors: at quality 50-80, HEVC's larger transform blocks, intra-prediction, and CABAC entropy coding produce noticeably fewer DCT artifacts than JPEG's 8x8 blocks. If you only need 100% quality stills, Video to PNG is a lossless alternative that any viewer opens.

Can I batch extract frames from many videos at once?

Yes — add multiple videos in the upload step and each will produce its own HEIF (or set of HEIFs for Multiple Screenshots) downloadable as a ZIP. The same Frame Selection, Image Compression, and Resolution settings apply to every file in the batch, which is convenient for normalizing thumbnails across a video library. For batch image-only workflows, Compress HEIF re-encodes existing HEIF files to a smaller size.