Flip HEIF images online for free. Mirror horizontally or vertically; the result is saved as JPG.
HEIF (High Efficiency Image File Format) is the ISO/IEC 23008-12 container that Apple devices save as .heic (HEVC-encoded) and that Samsung Galaxy phones, recent Android cameras, and libheif exports save as .heif (typically HEVC, sometimes AV1). HEIF files are roughly half the size of an equivalent-quality JPEG and support 10-bit and 12-bit color, depth maps, image sequences, and HDR — none of which JPEG can carry. Most online "rotate image" tools won't accept HEIF at all, which is why people end up converting to JPEG first as a separate step. Common reasons to flip a HEIF photo:
| Property | HEIF (.heif) |
HEIC (.heic) |
AVIF (.avif) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Container standard | ISO/IEC 23008-12 | ISO/IEC 23008-12 | ISOBMFF (HEIF subset) |
| Codec inside | HEVC, AV1, AVC, JPEG | HEVC only | AV1 only |
| Royalty-free codec | Sometimes (AV1) | No (HEVC patents) | Yes |
| Default on | Samsung Galaxy, libheif exports | iPhone (since iOS 11, 2017), Mac (since macOS High Sierra) | Modern Android (Android 12+) |
| Native Windows support | Windows 11 22H2+; Win 10 needs HEIF Image Extension | Same as HEIF | Windows 11 + AV1 Video Extension |
| Native Android support | Android 8+ | Android 10+ | Android 12+ |
| Bit depth | Up to 16-bit, 10/12-bit common | Up to 16-bit, typically 8/10-bit | Up to 12-bit |
| Typical size vs JPEG | ~50% | ~50% | ~30–50% |
| Operation | What it does | Result of doing it twice | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Horizontal flip (mirror) | Reflects across the vertical axis (left ↔ right) | Returns to original | Selfies, gaze direction, RTL layouts |
| Vertical flip | Reflects across the horizontal axis (top ↔ bottom) | Returns to original | Inverted scans, reflection effects |
| Rotate 90° / 270° | Turns image a quarter turn | Returns at 180° (still wrong) | Portrait ↔ landscape orientation fix |
| Rotate 180° | Turns image upside down | Returns to original | Same visual as H-flip + V-flip combined |
| Convert HEIF → JPEG | Re-encodes pixels in a different format | n/a (one-way) | Sharing with Windows / older Android / web uploads |
For rotation instead of flipping, see Rotate HEIF. To change pixel dimensions without flipping, see Resize HEIF. If the goal is sharing with non-Apple, non-modern-Android devices, HEIF to JPG or HEIF to PNG is the right tool. Working with iPhone-saved files? Flip HEIC targets the .heic extension specifically.
| Setting | What it does | When to change it |
|---|---|---|
| "Horizontal" / "Vertical" | Mirrors the photo left-right or top-bottom; click again to undo | Selfie text, a logo facing the wrong way, an upside-down scan |
| "Save as" | "Same as original" (saves a HEIF as JPG), or JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF, BMP, TIFF, ICO, AVIF, PSD, PPM | The destination needs another format |
| "Quality" (40–100, starts at 85) | Re-encode quality for JPG, WebP and AVIF output | Lower for smaller files, higher before more editing |
| Resize (same session) | Changes the pixel size along with the flip | Downscale for the web in one pass |
The editor has no DPI, bit-depth, compression-type or file-size-target setting. To hit a byte budget, run the result through Compress HEIF.
Functionally nothing — both are ISO/IEC 23008-12 containers and the flip operates on pixels. The extension difference is which codec compressed the image: .heic is always HEVC (Apple's choice since iOS 11 in 2017), while .heif can be HEVC, AV1, AVC, or JPEG. Samsung Galaxy phones, Android 10+ cameras, and libheif tools usually save as .heif. If your file came off an iPhone, Flip HEIC is the natural slug; if it came off a Galaxy or other Android, this tool is the match.
Only through the re-encode. The flip itself moves pixels without loss, but the photo is encoded again when you download. A browser cannot write HEIF, so the Download button names the format you get (usually JPG) before you save; at the default "Quality" of 85 the loss is invisible to the eye, and raising "Quality" toward 100 narrows it further. If you plan several edits, do them all in one session — Resize, Crop, Rotate and Flip work together — so the photo is encoded only once.
Phone cameras (iPhone, Galaxy, Pixel) show the selfie preview mirrored so framing feels natural — when you move your hand left, your reflection moves left — but save the file un-mirrored to match how others see you. That's why text on your shirt reads correctly in the saved photo but feels off compared to the viewfinder. A horizontal flip recreates that mirrored preview, which is what most people actually want when posting to social media.
The flip operates on the still image inside the HEIF container — Live Photo paired video, depth maps, Portrait Mode bokeh data, and image sequences are stripped because they're separate tracks that don't have a meaningful "flipped" version. HDR and 10- or 12-bit colour are not kept either: the editor works in 8 bits per channel and saves in sRGB. If you need a Galaxy motion photo's video preserved alongside the flip, do the flip in Samsung Gallery so it can re-flip the paired clip too.
You don't need a separate conversion step — the editor opens HEIF directly. It cannot keep the HEIF container, though: a browser can't write HEIF, so the flipped photo is saved as JPG (the editor says so), or as PNG or another format you pick in "Save as". Most online "rotate image" tools list only JPG / PNG / GIF as supported inputs and force you to convert HEIF first, which means a double re-encode (HEIF → JPEG, then flip → JPEG re-save); here the photo is encoded once.
It can. HEIF files store an EXIF orientation flag, and viewers like macOS Preview, Samsung Gallery, and Photos honor it — so a photo that looks "right side up" on one device may show as rotated on Windows or older Android because they ignore the tag. The editor makes the pixels upright when it opens the photo, applies the flip to the actual pixel data, and saves the JPG with the Orientation tag reset to normal (camera, date taken and GPS are kept), so the result reads the same everywhere. If the photo still looks sideways in the editor, use Rotate — a flip mirrors, it does not turn.
Usually yes, because the flipped file is not a HEIF: it is saved as JPG (unless you picked another format), which opens everywhere. The original HEIF is a different story and depends on the platform. Windows 11 22H2+ opens HEIF natively; Windows 10 needs the free HEIF Image Extension from the Microsoft Store (and an HEVC extension on top). Android 8+ supports HEIF, Android 10+ adds HEIC, and Android 12+ adds AVIF. Older platforms and many web upload forms still reject .heif — to convert an unflipped HEIF for those, use HEIF to JPG for universal compatibility, or HEIF to PNG for lossless at a much larger file size.
Yes — drop up to 50 HEIF files at once (a mixed batch works too). The flip direction you set applies to every file in the batch; "Download all (.zip)" saves every flipped result in one ZIP, or use "Download one by one" to save them separately.
Yes — see Flip JPG, Flip PNG, Flip GIF, Flip WebP, Flip BMP, and Flip TIFF for the same flip controls applied to the equivalent formats. For the iPhone-specific .heic extension, Flip HEIC is the dedicated route.