In a world of digital photography, the HEIC file format has become a game changer. Adopted by Apple in 2017, it offers a smarter, more efficient way to store images. However, sharing or working with HEIC files can be tricky, especially for products outside the Apple ecosystem.
In this article, we’ll describe in detail how to solve this problem by effortlessly converting your HEIC files into the generally recognized PDF format on a Mac, Windows PC, and iPhone.
A Brief History of HEIC
HEIC is a file format developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group. MPEG is a team within ISO/IEC that creates international standards for compressing and processing moving images and audio. The first big company to take the format on board was Apple. In 2017, it made HEIC files a standard for iPhones and iPads, starting from the iPhone 7 (iOS 11).
To be more precise, MPEG invented HEIF, which stands for High Efficiency Image File Format. Though technically, there’s a difference between HEIF and HEIC (High-Efficiency Image Coding), in users’ everyday communication, these two terms have become interchangeable.
AppleInsider even wrote in 2018 that Apple just decided to rebrand the invention of MPEG, and “all of these are exactly the same format.” You can read more about it here.
What are the Advantages of HEIC
Apple implemented HEIC for one reason—to find a format that, from their perspective, would push the boundaries beyond what was possible with JPEG.
In his speech at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June 2017, Davide Concion from Apple’s Image Compression Team said that the company wanted the new format to be “friendly to professional photography tools, the web, and the cloud, flexible and extensible to cope with ever-changing photography ecosystem.”
HEIC was set to become a solution.
“JPEG is yay big, but HEIF is brief,” said another company’s representative at WWDC the same year, adding that HEIC files are “twice as small as JPEGs.”
The main message is clear, but let’s shift to details.
First of all, HEIC files are indeed up to 50% smaller than JPEGs. You can store more pictures within the same amount of space.
That’s a good thing for those who are much into photography, for instance, and keep thousands of high-resolution images on their devices. The limited free cloud storage—along with a larger, yet still limited option available through subscription—also matters.
Second, HEIC compression algorithms are more effective. This means that the smaller-sized files don’t lose much of their quality.
Third, HEIC supports 16-bit color, which makes it possible to get more color information and details. In other words, it upgrades the quality of an image.
Fourth, HEIC can store multiple images in one file (like live photos) and keep important information about your images. This can be the time and place they were taken, as well as their size in pixels. JPEG can only hold one image per file. As far as the metadata is concerned, JPEG can store it as well.
Fifth, JPEG loses some data every time you edit and save an image. The more changes you make, the worse quality you have. HEIC files maintain their image quality over time. They also save your editing history, so if you make changes to an image, you can go back and undo them later.
These advantages make HEIC an attractive option for both photographers and casual users.
What Makes Using HEIC Complicated
Despite all the benefits mentioned, there’s one thing that makes users’ lives a bit more difficult. The problem arises when you use products besides Apple. Or, for instance, if you
would like to share a HEIC image with those who don’t use the devices made in Cupertino.
The easiest solution is to convert the file to a different format. PDF is one of the most universal ones. PDF files are comfortable when you’re on the go—whether you have to print out a picture or send an e-copy of your ID to a visa application center.
Any device or website can work with this format without any additional software installed. It just saves time. Moreover, you can put several pictures inside one PDF, which makes it convenient for sharing.
PDFs can also have notes, links, highlighting, and other interactive elements, making them useful for more than just images.
How to Convert HEIC to PDF
Let’s find out how to make a PDF out of a HEIC file.
- Mac
Open an HEIC file. In Preview, click File in the menu bar and select Export as PDF. After that, choose a folder on your Mac and click Save.
That’s one of the easiest ways to convert HEIC files to PDF. However, it’s available on macOS only.
- Windows
Inbuilt Microsoft products can’t work with HEIC files. If you try to open one in Microsoft Photos, the app will ask you to download the HEVC Video Extensions program from the Store. The price is currently $0.99.
The solution is free online converters. You can find dozens of them on the Internet. The majority of tools are fine and don’t need registration to quickly convert heic to pdf onlineOthers limit the number of files a user can upload per day.
- iPhone
iPhone can also convert HEIC files but only from the Files folder. If your picture is in Photos, tap Share – Save to Files – On My iPhone. Then find the photo in Files, hold your finger on it, and select Create PDF from the pop-up list (in some iOS versions, the Create PDF option can be hidden inside Quick Actions that are also available via the pop-up list).
If your HEIC photos are on your computer, you can upload them straight to Files with the help of the iCloud website.
