2023-11-26 16:50:11
For users of iOS devices, there’s probably a question in your mind: Why does Apple choose to use different file systems? One of them is unlike Android, which is HEIC files. Let’s see what’s good about it and why Apple chose to use it.
Are you an iPhone owner? Have you noticed that the photos on your device aren’t saved in JPEG or PNG format, but in another file format called HEIC? You will never notice why Apple chose to use this HEIC file in the iPhone.
What is a HEIC file, who created it, when was it released, what are its benefits and how is it different from other file formats? In this article we will help you unravel the mystery. If you’re ready, go follow along.
What is the HEIC file type?
HEIC (High-Efficiency Image Container) is a file format owned by Apple introduced with iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra in 2017. It is based on HEIF (High-Efficiency Image File). ), which is an open file format introduced in 2015 by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG).
The main advantages of HEIC over other file formats are that it can store higher quality photos while using less storage space on your device. In fact, HEIC files use about half the storage space of JPEG files at equivalent resolution.
iPhone users often complain about not having enough storage space and because photos and videos tend to take up most of the space. Switching from JPEG to HEIC is important to significantly reduce file size. In fact, HEIC is already the default file format on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
This file size reduction is made possible by a more efficient image and video compression standard called HEVC (High-Efficiency Video Coding). For context, JPEG uses the same DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform) compression standard. Where JPEG images use the .jpg or .jpeg file extensions, HEIC images use the .heic or .heics file extensions.
Advantages of using HEIC
In addition to the reduced file size, HEIC lets you take Live Photos on your iPhone, which are short video clips to record the moments before and after the photo is taken. If you are used to clicking photos in burst mode, HEIC allows storing multiple photos in a single file for better organization.
HEIC files also contain important metadata such as Image resolution, size, camera settings, shooting location and time, and more.
Disadvantages of using HEIC
For all the benefits that a HEIC offers, there is one major drawback. That is, it is not a universally used file, only Apple has chosen to use it. This means that if you own a device made by a manufacturer other than Apple, there’s a chance it doesn’t support HEIC and you won’t be able to open files that iPhone users have shared with you.
This is why transferring photo files from iPhone to Android or Windows can sometimes be a problem. Luckily, phones running newer versions of Android (Android 10 or later) have built-in support for opening HEIC file formats.
Windows, on the other hand, does not have native file format support. So if you want to open HEIC files on your Windows computer, you need to convert them to JPEG or another supported file format first or install the HEIF Image Extensions app from the Microsoft Store.
This is because HEIC is better at compressing images. File sizes may therefore increase when you convert HEIC images to JPEG, causing you to lose more storage space.
Store more photos and videos on your iPhone with HEIC.
The iPhone doesn’t come with a dedicated microSD slot for expandable storage. This means that limited internal storage space on your device is all you have. However, this isn’t the case with some Android phones. As many phones also have a microSD slot, you can purchase more storage if you need it.
Because of this, Apple needed to find a way to reduce the size of photo and video files on iPhone to reduce the storage space used. As we explained above, HEIC has come to the rescue and is the reason why you no longer get those annoying messages on your iPhone about the storage being full.
Source: sweetsof
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