HEIC to AVIF Converter

About HEIC to AVIF

Converts an iPhone HEIC photo into a real AVIF file. Both are modern, compact formats built on video codecs, HEIC on HEVC and AVIF on AV1, so this is a move between two efficient formats rather than a rescue from a bulky one. The HEIC is decoded by a WebAssembly decoder and the AVIF is written by a second encoder, both running in your browser.

How to use it

1. Select your HEIC image by dropping it on the drop zone, or click to choose a .heic or .heif file.
2. Give the on-page decoder a moment to produce the Source preview.
3. Move the Quality slider if you want a different balance; it starts at 85.
4. Press Convert to AVIF. Expect the wait to be longer than for JPG or WebP output, especially on a large photo.
5. When the Output panel shows the picture, press Download AVIF.

When to use it

• Moving phone photos into an AVIF-based image pipeline for a website.
• Checking whether AV1 compresses a specific photo better than HEVC does.
• Sharing a phone photo with someone whose browser opens AVIF but not HEIC.

Questions about HEIC to AVIF

Why is there a licensing angle to HEIC versus AVIF?

HEVC, the codec inside HEIC, carries patent licensing costs that keep it out of many browsers. AV1, used by AVIF, was designed as royalty-free, which is why web platforms favor it.

Will the AVIF be smaller than my HEIC?

Not necessarily. HEIC is already efficient, and this route decodes the photo and then re-encodes it, so the size depends on the Quality slider. Compare the file sizes yourself before deciding to keep the AVIF.

How does the tool write the AVIF?

If your browser can encode AVIF from a canvas, the tool uses that. Otherwise it loads a WebAssembly AVIF encoder the first time you convert, and that encoder produces the same kind of file.

Are HDR or wide-gamut details kept?

No. The HEIC is decoded to an 8-bit image before AVIF encoding, so any extra brightness range or bit depth in the original is flattened.

Related tools

• PNG to AVIFConvert PNG images to AVIF format in your browser — no upload required.
• JPG to AVIFConvert JPG images to AVIF format in your browser — no upload required.
• BMP to AVIFConvert BMP images to AVIF format in your browser — no upload required.
• ICO to AVIFConvert ICO images to AVIF format in your browser — no upload required.
• GIF to AVIFConvert GIF images to AVIF format in your browser — no upload required.
• WEBP to AVIFConvert WEBP images to AVIF format in your browser — no upload required.