HEIF (High Efficiency Image File Format) is a new photo format that is starting to be used Apple as a replacement for JPEG. HEIF will likely replace JPEG completely because iPhone is the most popular and widely used camera in the world. Since version iOS 11, the system will switch from JPEG to HEIF. What is HEIF? How is it better than JPEG? And what is the real difference between the two formats?
HEIF is smaller and better
HEIF is a format that is about half the size of JPEG and has better quality. This means that you can store twice as many photos on your iPhone as before. The main reason for the reduction in size despite the same quality is better image compression than JPEG, which was born in 1992. Since JPEG is used on computers and other devices, it will not be immediately sent to the coffin, but it's a matter of time.
Equipment Apple include built-in hardware support for HVEC and therefore HEIF, which means that images can be encoded and decoded very quickly without straining the system or battery.
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HEIF is flexible
HEIF also has other advantages over JPEG. It allows you to save multiple images in one file, i.e. for example the entire sequence, the original image and the one with the applied filter. Thus, HEIF is absolutely perfect for storing Live photos, and could even become a potential replacement for GIFs. This is because HEIF supports transparency and a 16-bit color range, while JPEG only supports an 8-bit range.
HEIF can also handle minor adjustments, such as rotation, cropping, and restoring. In practice, this means that you will be able to undo these adjustments at any time in the future.
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Compatibility with the rest of the world
We're living in a JPEG world right now. If you switch to a system iOS 11, which will support HEIF, then when exporting images, they will be converted from HEIF to JPEG, for example if you want to send them to a device that does not support this format. You as a user do not have to worry about anything, because everything will happen in the background.
However, you will notice that you will suddenly have more space because the photos you take will take up half the memory and will also look better. Do iCloud Photo Libraries will upload quickly. If the rest of the world adopts HEIF instead of JPEG, then websites will also run faster.
It is important to note that Apple HEIF does not own the technology. JPEG has served us for about a quarter of a century, but it should be slowly retired to be replaced by a more modern format with more advantages.
I have a special experience. I only use it to back up photos. Google photos. It doesn't understand heif very well yet. It says the file is too large or unknown. But when I do an automatic edit in ios gallery, so Google has no problem backing up the photo directly in heif format. I don't even have to adjust anything for the depth effect. It backs up without any problems. Strange. Anyway, I'm waiting for the update Google photos to make backups completely seamless. I hope that happens with the first public beta.
Have you tried it with iCloud Does it work?
Petr Toroň: No, I haven't tried that
Petr Toroň with icloud it works normally ;)
"More modern format" and PNG mean nothing to anyone?
The PNG is from 1994. Which is also an excavation and it doesn't support animations. If it's an innovation, then something modern and newer. HEIF is somewhere around 2013-2015.
Transcoding from HEIF to JPEG is not a very good idea - it will definitely show in the images as both formats are lossy - just different. We'll see how quickly support expands to other apps - I'm rather afraid of it.
Personally, I would prefer to accept the possibility to default the basic HEIF or Jpeg format in the iPhone settings, thus no conversion, but what suits who...
HEIF is of higher quality, so when converted to JPEG, the quality will be the same as if it were created as a straight JPEG. miniIt will be almost impossible to tell. And if you need to save the same file X times so that the degradation is visible, you will convert it to a lossless format. In normal use, no one will notice changes in compression in the range of 15%, even with JPEG at today's resolutions.
Okay, and what do I use in my family? IPhone just me and others Samsung 3 mini, 5 mini, A3 2016, J5 2016 and how many times are we somewhere and someone records a video, takes pictures and then sends it to others on their phones and that's the case with me too. I record, take pictures and send them to my family. Or I connect to the TV and want to play it back, show my family where we were. Will it work?
And what about the videos in normal format as before?
What if I record a video and use it to make photos directly on the IPhone (screen scan) what format will it be in?
Yeah, those are the video files with the .nf extension, as "normal format"? :-)
The question is what will happen to all the photos that are now on icloudE. Will the old ones remain jpeg and the new ones will be heif, or will the entire library be converted to heif?
It would be great because I'm on 49 gigs :)
256 GB iPhone and everything in tiff :-D