HEIC for Photographers: Pros, Cons, and Compatibility Explained

If you're a photographer, you care deeply about image quality and your workflow. HEIC offers some intriguing benefits for photographers, but it also comes with trade-offs. Let's break down what HEIC means for professional photography.

The Pros of HEIC for Photographers

Smaller File Sizes

HEIC files are roughly half the size of equivalent JPGs. If you shoot thousands of photos, that's a significant storage saving.

Higher Color Depth

HEIC supports 16-bit color depth (up from JPG's 8-bit), which means smoother gradients and more color information to work with in post-processing.

HDR Support

HEIC supports High Dynamic Range, preserving more detail in highlights and shadows than standard JPG.

Better Compression Artifacts

At equivalent file sizes, HEIC produces fewer compression artifacts than JPG, particularly in areas with fine detail or smooth gradients.

The Cons of HEIC for Photographers

Editing Software Compatibility

While most modern editing software supports HEIC, older versions don't. Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop support HEIC on both Mac and Windows.

Client Delivery Issues

If you deliver HEIC files to clients, they might not be able to open them. Always convert to JPG or PNG for client delivery.

Browser Viewing

Not all browsers display HEIC files directly. Make sure to use web-compatible formats for online galleries.

Our Recommendation

For photographers, HEIC is great for archiving and personal work. But for client delivery and web use, convert to widely supported formats. Use our tools to convert HEIC to JPG, PNG, or WEBP for sharing.