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Image MIME Reference
HEIF

High Efficiency Image File Format

image/heif
VS

Apple PICT Image

image/x-pict
PICT

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

Equal browser support

Feature Support

Feature HEIF PICT
Transparency (Alpha) Yes Yes
Animation Support Yes ✕ No
Progressive Loading ✕ No ✕ No
HDR Support Yes ✕ No
EXIF Metadata Yes ✕ No
ICC Color Profile Yes ✕ No
High Efficiency Image File Format
image/heif
Extension
.heif.hif
Container HEIF / ISOBMFF (ISO/IEC 14496-12)
Compression Lossy / Lossless
Algorithm
Codec Agnostic (HEVC, AVC, JPEG, AV1)
Color Depth 8-bit, 10-bit, 12-bit, 16-bit
Developed by Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG)
Released 2015
Magic Bytes
XX XX XX XX 66 74 79 70 6D 69 66 31
Full HEIF reference →
Apple PICT Image
image/x-pict
Extension
.pict.pct.pic
Container QuickDraw Metafile
Compression Uncompressed / Run-Length Encoding (RLE) / QuickTime Compressors (JPEG, SMC)
Algorithm
Apple PackBits (RLE)QuickTime Image Compression Manager (ICM)
Color Depth 1-bit, 2-bit, 4-bit, 8-bit (Indexed), 16-bit (High Color), 24-bit (True Color), 32-bit (RGBA)
Developed by Apple Computer, Inc.
Released 1984
Magic Bytes
None (Requires offset parsing, e.g., 00 11 02 FF at byte 522)
Full PICT reference →

Browser Support Comparison

Browser HEIF PICT
Chrome Chrome
✕ ✕
Firefox Firefox
✕ ✕
Safari Safari
✕ ✕
Edge Edge
✕ ✕
IE IE (Legacy)
✕ ✕
HEIF

HEIF Strengths

  • Highly flexible container that can store image bursts, animations, focal stacks, and stereo 3D images in one file
  • Natively supports depth maps and alpha channels, making it perfect for computational photography
  • When paired with modern codecs like HEVC or AV1, it provides massive storage savings over legacy formats like JPEG
Limitations
  • Codec agnosticism makes broad software decoding difficult, as the container might hold proprietary or unsupported codecs
  • Zero cross-platform web browser support, requiring conversion for online publishing
  • Often confused with the more specific 'image/heic' and 'image/avif' MIME types
PICT

PICT Strengths

  • Incredibly versatile for its time, allowing a single file to cleanly scale text and vector shapes while simultaneously housing raster photos
  • Served as the flawless universal clipboard format for the classic Mac OS, enabling seamless copy/pasting between wildly different applications
Limitations
  • Deeply tied to Apple's legacy QuickDraw graphics architecture, making it exceptionally difficult to write accurate third-party parsers on modern operating systems
  • Lack of a standard magic header makes file detection unreliable without seeking 522 bytes deep into the file
  • Completely unsupported in modern web environments and discontinued by Apple itself

When to choose which format

HEIF
Use HEIF when…
  • Digital Photography
  • Camera Capture
  • Image Archiving
  • Multi-image composites
PICT
Use PICT when…
  • Classic Mac OS Clipboard Data
  • Legacy Macintosh Desktop Publishing (Aldus PageMaker, QuarkXPress)
  • 1980s/1990s Digital Clip Art

More comparisons

HEIF vs ACES → PICT vs ACES → HEIF vs APNG → PICT vs APNG → HEIF vs AVCI → PICT vs AVCI → HEIF vs AVCS → PICT vs AVCS → HEIF vs AVIF → PICT vs AVIF → All comparisons →
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