Free webp to jpg
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Image MIME Reference
HEIC

High Efficiency Image Container

image/heic
VS

WebP Image

image/webp
WebP

A complete technical comparison of High Efficiency Image Container and WebP Image — covering compression, feature support, browser compatibility, magic bytes, and when to choose each format.

WebP wins on browser support

Feature Support

Feature HEIC WebP
Transparency (Alpha) Yes Yes
Animation Support Yes Yes
Progressive Loading ✕ No ✕ No
HDR Support Yes ✕ No
EXIF Metadata Yes Yes
ICC Color Profile Yes Yes
High Efficiency Image Container
image/heic
Extension
.heic
Container HEIF / ISOBMFF
Compression Lossy / Lossless
Algorithm
HEVC (H.265)
Color Depth 8-bit, 10-bit, 12-bit, 16-bit
Developed by MPEG (Standard) / Apple (Adoption)
Released 2017
Magic Bytes
XX XX XX XX 66 74 79 70 68 65 69 63
Full HEIC reference →
WebP Image
image/webp
Extension
.webp
Container RIFF
Compression Lossy / Lossless
Algorithm
VP8VP8L
Color Depth 8-bit
Developed by Google
Released 2010
Magic Bytes
52 49 46 46 XX XX XX XX 57 45 42 50
Full WebP reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser HEIC WebP
Chrome Chrome
✕
✓ 32+
Firefox Firefox
✕
✓ 65+
Safari Safari
✓ 11+
✓ 14+
Edge Edge
✕
✓ 18+
IE IE (Legacy)
✕ ✕
HEIC

HEIC Strengths

  • Exceptional compression efficiency — stores images at roughly half the file size of JPEG with equal or better visual quality
  • Natively supports modern photography features like depth maps, 16-bit color, HDR, and alpha channel transparency
  • Can store image bursts, focal stacks, and animations (Live Photos) within a single file
Limitations
  • Heavily encumbered by software patents, leading to very poor adoption outside the Apple ecosystem
  • Not supported by standard web browsers (except Safari), requiring server-side or client-side conversion for web delivery
  • Windows requires downloading a separate (often paid) extension from the Microsoft Store to view natively
WebP

WebP Strengths

  • Superior lossy compression — 25–35% smaller than JPEG at equivalent quality
  • Supports both animation and full alpha transparency
  • Lossless mode available with smaller file sizes than PNG
Limitations
  • Slower encoding than JPEG, especially for lossless
  • Not supported in Internet Explorer or very old browsers

When to choose which format

HEIC
Use HEIC when…
  • iOS / iPhone Photography
  • macOS Ecosystem
  • High-Quality Image Archiving
WebP
Use WebP when…
  • Websites
  • Ecommerce
  • Mobile Apps
  • CMS Images

More comparisons

HEIC vs ACES → WebP vs ACES → HEIC vs APNG → WebP vs APNG → HEIC vs AVCI → WebP vs AVCI → HEIC vs AVCS → WebP vs AVCS → HEIC vs AVIF → WebP vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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