HEIF Converter
FileFlip converts HEIF files into 62 other formats entirely inside your browser, using ImageMagick, MuPDF and Pandoc compiled to WebAssembly. The HEIF file is never uploaded to a server: it is read off your disk, converted on your own machine, and saved back by the browser. There is no file-size limit and no account to create.
How do I convert an HEIF file?#
- Drop your HEIF file onto the converter at the top of this page, or click it to pick one from your computer.
- Choose the format you want out of it. FileFlip downloads the engine that conversion needs, once, and your browser caches it.
- Conversion starts the moment you pick the format, and the result is yours to download. The work happens in this tab, so nothing is uploaded and nothing is queued.
Is it safe to convert HEIF files online?#
Yes, because nothing is uploaded. FileFlip converts HEIF files inside the browser tab you already have open, using WebAssembly builds of the same engines a desktop converter would install. Your file is read from your own disk into the page's memory, and no request carrying it is ever made.
You do not have to take that on trust. Open your browser's network panel, run a conversion, and you will see the engine come down and your file go nowhere. There is no upload, no server-side copy, no retention window, and no account tied to what you converted.
How FileFlip works lists every engine, its version and its download size, and shows how to check for yourself that nothing leaves your machine.
What happens to a HEIF file#
FileFlip converts HEIF into 62 formats with ImageMagick, MuPDF and Pandoc, all of it inside the browser tab. Each conversion below names the engine it uses, what it downloads, and exactly what that conversion keeps or drops.
| Category | Image Files |
|---|---|
| File extension | .heif |
| FileFlip support | Read only, so it is a source rather than a target |
| Conversions available | 62 |
| Engines | ImageMagick, MuPDF and Pandoc |
| Downloaded to your browser | 14.1 MB on the first conversion, then cached |
What is an HEIF file?#
An HEIF file is a general-purpose container, built on the same ISO base media file format as MP4, that can hold one or more images encoded with any of several codecs, HEVC being the case Apple names HEIC and AV1 being the case standardized separately as AVIF.
Expect HEIF, rather than HEIC specifically, from cameras and devices that encode stills with a codec other than HEVC, since HEIF is the umbrella container those files also use.
Convert a HEIF file to JPEG or PNG when the destination only accepts a single, codec-agnostic raster image, since most upload forms and older software carry no HEIF decoder at all.
The HEIF file format reference covers the specification, the programs that open one, and what each conversion keeps or drops.
HEIF questions people ask#
What's the difference between HEIF and HEIC?
HEIF is the container format, defined by ISO/IEC 23008-12, and it can hold images encoded with several different codecs. HEIC is specifically a HEIF file whose images are encoded with HEVC, which is the case Apple uses for iPhone and iPad photos, so every HEIC file is a HEIF file but not every HEIF file is a HEIC file.
Is AVIF the same thing as HEIF?
AVIF is a HEIF file whose images are encoded with the AV1 codec, in the same way HEIC is a HEIF file encoded with HEVC. The AVIF specification is written explicitly as a profile of HEIF, but it registers its own MIME type and extension because AV1 avoids the patent licensing that comes with HEVC.
Why does my camera save photos with a .heif extension instead of .heic?
Some cameras, including recent Canon and Sony models, encode HEIF stills for 10-bit HDR photography using a codec setup that isn't the HEVC-in-HEIF case Apple calls HEIC, so they label the file with the generic .heif extension instead. The underlying container is the same either way.