HEIC MIME Type

About HEIC image files

iPhones save photos as HEIC, and only Safari can display them. iOS usually converts them to JPEG when you pick a photo in a web upload form, but not always (for example, files shared from the Files app). If your app accepts photo uploads, either convert HEIC on the server or reject it with a clear message.

Other types seen for these files: image/heif , image/heic-sequence . Accept them when reading uploads, but send image/heic yourself.

File signature

HEIC files start with "ftypheic" (or ftypmif1, ftypheix) at byte 4. The extension and the type a browser reports for an upload both come from the file name, so check these bytes on the server before trusting a file.

Serve .heic with the right Content-Type

Content-Type: image/heic

image/heic heic heif;

AddType image/heic .heic .heif

@heic path *.heic *.heif
header @heic Content-Type "image/heic"

curl -sI https://example.com/file.heic | grep -i '^content-type'
# Content-Type: image/heic

Set the type in code

res.set('Content-Type', 'image/heic');
// Or make the browser download it:
res.attachment('file.heic');

import mimetypes

mimetypes.add_type('image/heic', '.heic')  # if your system doesn't know it
mimetypes.guess_type('file.heic')[0]  # 'image/heic'

mime.AddExtensionType(".heic", "image/heic")
w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "image/heic")

Accept .heic uploads

<input type="file" accept=".heic,.heif,image/heic">

The accept attribute only filters the file picker; users can still choose another file. Listing the extension as well as the type matters, because operating systems don’t always report the type you expect.

Related types

• .jpg (image/jpeg): JPEG image
• .avif (image/avif): AVIF image
• .png (image/png): PNG image

More images

.gif , .webp , .ico , .bmp , .tiff . Look up any extension or type with the MIME type lookup.

Sources

• IANA registration: image/heic
• MDN: Common media types

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Frequently asked questions