Convert HEIC to AVIF
Output is typically about 13% smaller.
- Files stay on your device
- Free, no sign-up
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Will converting HEIC to AVIF make the file smaller?
Usually, yes. A 12-megapixel photo is around 1.6 MB as HEIC and around 1.4 MB as AVIF — about 13% smaller. Because AVIF is lossless the result depends entirely on the image content — flat colour and text compress far better than photographic detail.
Does converting HEIC to AVIF lose quality?
Slightly. Re-encoding one lossy format as another means a second round of compression, which can soften fine detail. In practice the loss is hard to see at high quality settings, and AVIF's newer codec often preserves detail better than the HEIC original did. Keep quality at 80 or above and the difference will not be visible at normal viewing size.
Is transparency preserved when converting HEIC to AVIF?
Yes. Both HEIC and AVIF support an alpha channel, so transparent and semi-transparent pixels carry across unchanged — a logo with a cut-out background stays cut out, and soft drop shadows keep their gradient rather than picking up a white halo. Because AVIF can compress lossily, a very hard edge against transparency may pick up slight softness at high compression; keep quality at 85 or above for cut-out graphics.
What happens to an animated HEIC?
Only the first frame is converted. Every conversion here decodes one frame onto a canvas and re-encodes it, so the result is always a still image — that applies to AVIF as much as to any other target. To shrink an animation while keeping the motion, a video file (MP4 or WebM) is usually around a tenth of the size of the equivalent HEIC, and needs an encoder we do not ship yet.
Why can't Windows or Chrome open my HEIC file?
HEIC uses the patent-encumbered HEVC codec, which Google and Mozilla declined to license, so Chrome and Firefox cannot display it at all. Windows can, but only after installing a paid HEVC extension from the Microsoft Store. Converting to AVIF sidesteps the whole problem — and you can stop the issue at the source by setting your iPhone to Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible, which saves JPEGs instead.
How it works, and more about heic to avif
How it works
- Add your HEIC file. Drag a HEIC file onto the drop zone, or click to browse. You can select several at once.
- Choose your settings. Adjust the quality slider if you want a smaller file or a sharper result. 80 suits most photographs.
- Download the AVIF. Conversion runs on your device as soon as each file is added — no upload, no queue. Download each result when it is ready.
HEIC and AVIF side by side
| HEIC | AVIF | |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | High Efficiency Image Container | AV1 Image File Format |
| Compression | Lossy | Lossy or lossless |
| Transparency | Yes — alpha channel | Yes — alpha channel |
| Animation | Yes | Yes, in the format |
| Browser support | Safari only. Not supported by Chrome, Firefox or Edge. | Chrome 85+, Firefox 93+, Safari 16.4+ (March 2023), Edge 121+ |
| Typical 12 MP photo | ~1.6 MB | ~1.4 MB |
| Usually used for | iPhone and iPad camera output | Performance-critical web images where every kilobyte counts |
On a typical 12-megapixel phone photo, the AVIF output comes out about 13% smaller than the HEIC original. These are order-of-magnitude figures for one kind of image — your own results will vary a great deal, because flat colour, text and line art behave nothing like photographic detail, and the quality slider moves the figure substantially.
What to watch out for
- Encoding is computationally expensive and noticeably slow
- Requires Safari 16.4+ (2023), so a small share of users still miss it
- Sparse support outside browsers — most desktop editors cannot open it
- Animation is lost. Only the first frame is converted — every conversion here decodes a single frame onto a canvas and re-encodes it, so the result is a still image whatever the target format. To shrink an animation and keep the motion, a video file is typically around a tenth of the size of the equivalent HEIC.
About the two formats
HEIC has been the iPhone default since iOS 11, and it is genuinely efficient — about half the size of JPEG at the same quality, with support for depth maps and Live Photos. The problem is everything that is not an Apple device: Windows needs a paid codec, most web forms reject it, and Chrome and Firefox cannot display it at all. That gap is why converting HEIC is one of the most common image tasks there is.
AVIF currently produces the smallest files of any widely supported format — commonly half the size of JPEG at the same perceived quality, with excellent handling of gradients and noise. The cost is encoding time, which can be seconds per image rather than milliseconds, and support that only became universal with Safari 16.4 in 2023.
Other conversions
Everything runs on your device — nothing is uploaded, so there is no size limit, no queue and no copy left on a server afterwards. There is more on how browser-based conversion works if you want the detail. Otherwise, browse every image tool.