Why iPhones Take HEIC Photos?
HEIC actually stands for “High-Efficiency Image Compression”
Just consider one of the most annoying pop-up messages iPhone users can receive. Saying you’ve ran out of iCloud storage. It’s a problem that virtually everyone has after they’ve accumulated enough apps and photos and videos. And the only solution is to delete those apps, photos, and videos, or to buy more iCloud storage space for a monthly fee.
To prevent this problem, Apple focused on reducing the amount of space photos and videos take up. Since those tend to be user’s largest categories on their iCloud and iPhone storage. But how can you significantly reduce the file size of photos and videos without reducing their quality?
Well, that’s where HEIC comes in. It compresses images and videos much more efficiently. Leading to a photo-taking up 40–50% less space compared to its JPEG equivalent.
Without being able to tell a difference between the two visually. In fact, there are areas where HEIC outperforms JPEG. Like improved highlights, shadow details, and mid-tones. There’s also an extended dynamic range and 16-bit color as opposed to JPEG’s 8-bit color profile. So users are enjoying higher quality photos that take up half the space as before.
