HEIC on Android: Open, Convert and Share

Does Android support HEIC?

Yes, with a caveat. Android's supported-formats table (opens in a new tab) lists HEIF (.heic and .heif) decoding from Android 9.0 and encoding from Android 10, and marks it device optional. It tells developers to check isMimeTypeSupported on ImageDecoder for "image/heif" for 8-bit support, and says 10-bit decoding needs the optional HEVC Main10 profile. So a phone running a recent Android version will usually open a HEIC, but the platform does not promise it.

Where a HEIC works and where it does not

For browsers, Can I use's HEIF table (opens in a new tab) lists no support in Chrome for Android (version 154), Samsung Internet (4 to 30) or Firefox for Android (157). Only Safari 17 and later display HEIC natively. Can I use also notes that HEIC is hard for browsers to support because it is complex and expensive to license (opens in a new tab). For the full picture see HEIC browser support.

To view a HEIC in a browser without relying on the browser's own decoder, use the HEIC viewer. It decodes the file with WebAssembly on your device and does not upload it. We have not tested it on particular Android phones.

Which Android cameras write HEIC

It depends on the maker and the model. Samsung's page for the Galaxy S26 (opens in a new tab) describes a Photo format setting: open Camera, tap the Quick controls icon (the four dots), tap Settings, and under Photos choose Photo format. Samsung words it as saving space by capturing Photo mode pictures in high efficiency image format (HEIF), and separately lets you set a format for Pro mode pictures. That page names HEIF as the only format option.

Menu names differ between models and One UI versions. Older Galaxy phones have used other labels, but we could not open Samsung's own pages for them, so look in your camera settings for the photo-format option rather than relying on a path from memory. We did not find Google documentation of a HEIC setting for Pixel phones, so we make no claim there.

Many HEICs on Android phones did not come from the phone at all. Photos from an iPhone are HEIC by default; Apple's Most Compatible setting (opens in a new tab) makes new photos use JPEG or H.264 instead. If you regularly send photos to Android users, switching that setting on the iPhone avoids the problem at source. HEIC on iPhone covers it.

Google Photos and HEIC

Google lists .jpg, .heic, .heif, .png, .webp, .gif, .avif and most RAW files (opens in a new tab) as photo types it can back up. Backup quality matters here: Original quality stores photos in the same resolution that you took them with (opens in a new tab), while Storage saver stores them at slightly reduced quality and may compress them into a different image format, like a .jpg. That page does not mention HEIC specifically.

Downloading is where Google is least specific. The download steps (opens in a new tab) are More, then Download, on the app or at photos.google.com, but the page does not say whether you get the original file or a converted one. After downloading, check the file extension and the size; if it is a .heic and the destination rejects it, convert it.

Convert HEIC on Android

Convert when an app, site or form will not take a HEIC. A browser-based converter works regardless of the browser's HEIC support, because the decoding is done by WebAssembly code inside the page rather than by Chrome. Our converter runs on your device and uploads nothing; it decodes the still image and outputs JPG, PNG, WebP, AVIF or PDF. JPG, PNG and WebP output keeps the date taken and camera details by default and leaves the GPS location out unless you switch it on; we have not tested it on specific Android devices.

1. 01

   Open the converter in your browser

   Go to HEIC to JPG, or use the embedded tool below.

2. 02

   Choose your HEIC files

   Pick them from your phone's storage. Limits are 100 MB and 100 megapixels per file. For many files use the batch converter, which accepts up to 50 files or 500 MB at a time.

3. 03

   Save the JPG and use it

   Download the result and attach or upload it. Your original HEIC is unchanged.

AVIF, WebP and Ultra HDR: what to convert to

Ultra HDR (opens in a new tab) stores an ordinary SDR JPEG with a gain map that tells HDR-capable displays how much to brighten each pixel. Legacy readers that do not understand it show the normal JPEG. That backward compatibility is the reason it, rather than HEIC, is the HDR route Android documents. The Android page covers JPEG only and does not mention HEIC or AVIF gain maps. Android supports Ultra HDR images beginning with Android 14 (opens in a new tab); Android 15 adds ISO 21496-1 metadata handling for JPEG.

A related format: Motion Photos

Android's Motion Photo is a still with a video appended in one file, and the still can be JPEG, HEIC or AVIF, per Android's format specification (opens in a new tab). An iPhone Live Photo is different: two files tied by an identifier. If you are dealing with those, read Live Photos and HEIC.

What to do, by situation

What we could not verify

• A Pixel Camera setting for HEIC versus JPEG. We found no Google documentation.
• Samsung menu labels for models before the Galaxy S26, and the Gallery convert-on-share option.
• Whether Google Photos downloads a HEIC as .heic or converts it.
• How any particular messaging or email app treats HEIC attachments.
• Behaviour of our tools on specific Android phones. We have no devices and have not tested on them.