What is Heic?
HEIC stands for “High-Efficiency Image File Format”. It is a complex lossy file format for storing full color bitmapped images. It was developed by Apple but is an Open Standard. The filename extension for Heic files is: .heic
Here are some other questions about Heic you might also want to ask. If you have any other questions, please add a comment and we will try to answer.
Why is Heic popular?
Apple uses Heic as the default option for many of its applications on its iPhones and other products since 2017. So, many people are using Heic without even realising it.
How well-supported is Heic?
It is very well supported by Apple on both its phones and computers (Preview will happily open Heic files). Both PhotoShop and the free image editor GIMP can open and convert Heic files for you. Windows Photos also support Heic images.
How can I learn about Heic?
You can get a (paid) download of all the Heic technical documentation from ISO. The standard is open but not free.
How to open Heic files in Java?
There is a free Nokia implementation on GitHub and Apache Tika includes a Heic parser.
There are several commercial Heic solutions available. Our JDeli library allows you to read, write and display Heic files.
Find out how to read and write images files in Java with JDeli:
Read:BufferedImage image = JDeli.read(streamOrFile); Write: JDeli.write(myBufferedImage, OutputFormat.HEIC, outputStreamOrFile)
