Why You Can't Use HEIC on Websites - Which Format to Use?

Chrome, Firefox, and Edge don't support HEIC — here's why and what to use instead

The short answer

HEIC is not supported on the web because it uses the HEVC codec, which is patent-encumbered. Chrome, Firefox, and Edge don't license HEVC — so they can't display HEIC images at all. Safari is the only browser that renders HEIC natively, because Apple pays the licensing fee for its own products.

The practical result: WordPress, Squarespace, and Shopify reject .heic uploads. Email clients can't preview HEIC attachments. An tag pointing to a .heic file shows nothing in three out of four major browsers.

Convert HEIC to AVIF, WebP, or JPG before putting images on the web.

Why browsers don't support HEIC

The reason is patent licensing, not a technical limitation.

HEIC browser support:

HEIC wraps images compressed with HEVC (H.265). The HEVC codec is encumbered by two separate patent pools: MPEG-LA and Access Advance. Any browser that renders HEIC natively must pay licensing fees to both pools.

Apple builds that cost into its hardware margins — iPhones, Macs, and Safari include HEVC decoding. Google, Mozilla, and Microsoft chose a different path. They invested in royalty-free alternatives: VP9 for video, AV1 for next-generation compression, and AVIF for still images.

This is not a bug. It's not a missing feature that a browser update will fix. It's a deliberate architectural decision by every major browser vendor except Apple. Chrome has never supported HEIC display, and there's no indication it will.

Where HEIC breaks on the web

The browser limitation creates a chain of failures across every web platform that handles images.

• CMS platforms reject HEIC uploads. WordPress, Squarespace, and Shopify don't accept .heic files in their media libraries. They expect JPEG, PNG, or WebP. Drag a HEIC file into the WordPress media uploader and you get an error.

• Social media re-encodes or rejects. Platforms that do accept HEIC re-encode the file server-side. You lose control over quality settings and output format. Some platforms reject HEIC outright.

• Email clients can't preview HEIC. Attach a HEIC photo in Gmail or Outlook and the recipient sees a blank icon instead of an image preview. They have to download the file and find software that opens it.

• HTML tags fail silently. An image tag pointing to a .heic source file renders nothing in Chrome, Firefox, or Edge. No error message. No fallback. Just a broken image icon — or nothing at all.

What to use on the web instead

Three formats handle the transition from HEIC to the web. Each serves a different tradeoff between compression and compatibility.

AVIF uses the AV1 codec — royalty-free and roughly as efficient as HEVC. A converted AVIF often stays close to the original HEIC file size. Support covers 95%+ of modern browsers. For website speed, AVIF delivers the smallest files of any broadly supported format.

WebP offers the widest modern browser support with files smaller than JPG. It handles transparency, which JPG cannot. WebP is the safe default when you need broad compatibility without the file size penalty of JPEG.

JPG is the universal fallback. Every email client, every CMS, every social platform accepts JPEG. Files are the largest of the three options because JPEG's DCT compression is the algorithm HEIC was designed to replace — but nothing rejects them.

The size column reflects default quality settings from our conversion pipeline. These are measured ratios from real conversions, not estimates.

How to convert HEIC for the web

HEICcon converts HEIC files to web-ready formats directly in your browser:

• HEIC to AVIF — smallest output, modern browsers

• HEIC to WebP — broad browser support, transparency preserved

• HEIC to JPG — universal acceptance, every platform

All three tools run the conversion locally using libheif v1.21.2 compiled to WebAssembly. No file is uploaded to a server. Your photos never leave your device. Batch up to 50 files at once.

What is HEIC?

HEIC stands for High Efficiency Image Container. It wraps frames compressed with HEVC (H.265) — the same codec used for 4K video streaming. Apple adopted HEIC as the default iPhone camera format in iOS 11 (2017) because HEVC produces files roughly 50% smaller than JPEG at the same visual quality.

HEIC also stores 10-bit color depth, Display P3 wide-gamut color, alpha transparency, and Live Photo sequences. The format works well for on-device storage. The problem is web distribution — and that's the licensing wall described above.

For the full format breakdown, see What Is a HEIC File?.

Frequently asked questions

Can websites display HEIC images?

No. HEIC requires the HEVC codec, which Chrome, Firefox, and Edge don't license. Safari is the only browser that renders HEIC natively — because Apple pays the HEVC licensing fee for its own products. An tag pointing to a .heic file shows nothing in non-Safari browsers. CMS platforms like WordPress and Squarespace reject HEIC uploads entirely. Convert to AVIF, WebP, or JPG before uploading to any website.

Does Chrome support HEIC?

No. Chrome uses royalty-free codecs — VP9 for video, AV1 for next-generation compression. Google has never licensed HEVC, so Chrome cannot decode or display HEIC images. There is no setting to enable it and no extension that adds native HEIC rendering. To display iPhone photos in Chrome, convert them to AVIF, WebP, or JPG first.

What is the best image format for websites?

AVIF for quality-conscious use — smallest files, modern browser coverage (Chrome 85+, Firefox 93+, Safari 16.4+). WebP for broad compatibility — wider support than AVIF, smaller than JPG, handles transparency. JPG for guaranteed acceptance — every browser, email client, and CMS supports JPEG. For maximum coverage, serve AVIF with a WebP or JPG fallback using the HTML element.

Does converting HEIC to another format lose quality?

All conversion from HEIC passes through the browser's Canvas API, which introduces two fixed losses regardless of target format. Color depth drops from 10-bit (1,024 shades) to 8-bit (256 shades). Color space maps from Display P3 to sRGB, clipping roughly 25% of wide-gamut colors. EXIF metadata is stripped. Beyond those Canvas losses, AVIF, WebP, and JPG apply lossy compression controlled by a quality slider. At default quality settings, compression artifacts are imperceptible.

Will browsers ever support HEIC natively?

Unlikely. HEVC patents are held by MPEG-LA and Access Advance and run into the 2030s. Browser vendors have invested years building the royalty-free AV1/AVIF ecosystem as their alternative. Adding HEVC support would mean paying licensing fees for a codec they've already replaced with a free one. AVIF delivers comparable compression to HEIC without the patent burden — it's the format the web is moving toward, not HEIC.