{"id":14797,"date":"2026-04-07T09:10:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T07:10:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shortpixel.com/blog\/?p=14797"},"modified":"2026-04-07T09:10:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T07:10:28","slug":"heif-vs-jpeg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shortpixel.com\/blog\/heif-vs-jpeg\/","title":{"rendered":"HEIF vs JPEG: Which Format Should You Use?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

HEIF and JPEG take very different approaches to storing photos, and picking the wrong one can mean bloated file sizes, compatibility headaches, or lost image quality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s everything you actually need to know, including the technical details that matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are HEIF and JPEG?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

JPEG<\/strong> (Joint Photographic Experts Group) has been around since 1992. Yes, it’s over 30 years old. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was built for an era when a “high-resolution” photo was 640\u00d7480 pixels, and it was a brilliant solution to the hardware constraints of its time. Today, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JPEG is still used by ~72% of all websites<\/a>, which tells you everything about how deeply embedded it is in the web ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HEIF<\/strong> (High Efficiency Image Format) is a modern container format developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group, the same body behind the MPEG video standards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apple made the switch from JPEG to HEIC back in 2017, when it became the default camera format on iPhones. Under the hood, HEIF typically uses HEVC (H.265) compression, the same codec used for 4K video, to achieve significantly better compression efficiency than JPEG’s older, simpler DCT-based approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing worth clarifying: HEIF is the format, HEIC is the file extension Apple uses for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

File size and compression<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is where the numbers get interesting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite containing four times the color data, HEIF files are typically about the same size as JPEGs, because HEIF compression is 50% more effective than JPEG<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In real-world testing, JPEG file sizes were an average of 80% larger than photos saved in HEIF, with the greatest disparity reaching 96%<\/a>. That’s a significant difference when you’re managing a large photo library or running an image-heavy website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HEVC doubles the data compression ratio compared to H.264\/MPEG-4 AVC while keeping the same image quality, which gives HEIF a significant advantage in still images, image sequences, and computational photography use cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Image quality<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Both formats produce lossy compression, but they’re not equal in what they preserve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

HEIF supports higher color depths, up to 16 bits per channel, which means it can store a wider range of colors and more precise color information, while JPEG typically supports 8 bits per channel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In practice, that difference is most visible in images with gradients, subtle shadows, or fine tonal transitions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JPEG’s older compression algorithm also tends to introduce visible artifacts – the blocky, smeared areas you often see in heavily compressed photos. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

HEIF’s more modern compression algorithms prevent the artifacts and color banding common in highly compressed JPEGs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For casual sharing or social media, both look fine. For professional editing or archiving, HEIF holds up noticeably better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compatibility<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is where JPEG still wins by a wide margin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JPEG fell from 40% of all images on the web in 2022 to 32% in 2024<\/a>, a significant drop, but it remains dominant because it works everywhere without any extra effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HEIF support has improved considerably, but there are still real-world friction points:<\/p>\n\n\n\n