HEIC to Base64

How to convert HEIC to Base64

1. Drop a .heic or .heif file on the box or pick it with the file picker.
2. Output as starts on Plain Base64. Switch to Data URI or JSON if your destination needs the MIME type attached.
3. Press Copy output or Save as .txt.

The info line shows the MIME type your browser assigned. If the photo came from an iPhone through a share sheet or a cloud service, check that line: some routes hand over a JPEG copy instead of the original HEIC, and then the type reads image/jpeg.

Why HEIC does not display in most browsers

HEIC stores a photo compressed with HEVC (H.265) inside a HEIF container. It gives small files at high quality, which is why iPhones use it by default. Browser support never followed: according to current compatibility data, Safari 17 and later display HEIC, while Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Samsung Internet do not.

So the preview on this page works in Safari and shows a broken image elsewhere. The Base64 is correct either way; the browser just cannot draw it. The same applies to the resize and convert options available for other image types. They need the browser to decode the picture, so they are not offered here.

When Base64 HEIC is the right thing

• Archiving or syncing the original: if a system stores the photo as Base64 in a database or a JSON export, keeping the HEIC preserves the full quality and the small size.
• APIs that accept HEIC: some image and document APIs take HEIC directly. Many accept only JPEG, PNG, GIF and WebP, so check the list of supported types before sending.
• Apple-only targets: an internal page that only ever opens in Safari can use a HEIC data URI.

For a web page, an email or a generic image API, convert to JPEG first: on a Mac, open the photo in Preview and use Export; on an iPhone, setting Camera > Formats to Most Compatible makes future photos JPEG. Then encode the result with JPG to Base64, where you can also resize it and strip location data.

HEIC in Base64

HEIC files start with an ftyp box, like AVIF and MP4. The brand tells you what is inside:

The fifth character depends on the box size, so match from character 9: eXBoZWlj means a HEIC still image. The JSON output uses image/heic or image/heif as the type, depending on what your browser reports. If it reports nothing, a .heic file gets image/heic from its extension and a .heif file gets application/octet-stream; edit the type by hand if the receiver checks it.

FAQ