Sample HEIC Files — Download iPhone-Style HEIF Test Images
High Efficiency Image Container (HEIF/HEVC) · .heic, .heif · MIME type image/heic
Download a sample HEIC file to test what happens when an iPhone user uploads a photo: since iOS 11 (2017) Apple devices shoot HEIC by default, and a surprising number of web applications, CMSs and email systems still reject or mangle it. These files are real HEIF containers with HEVC-compressed images at 1280×720 and 1920×1080.
HEIC stores images at roughly half the size of an equivalent JPEG, supports 16-bit colour, transparency, image sequences and depth maps — but it is patent-encumbered, so Chrome, Firefox and most Linux tools cannot display it without extra libraries.
Download sample HEIC files
| File | Details | Size | Download |
|---|---|---|---|
sample-image-1280x720.heic | 1280 × 720 | 540 KB | |
sample-image-1920x1080.heic | 1920 × 1080 | 1.2 MB |
Need one of every images format? Download the images sample pack (1.3 MB, one small file of every images format (10 files)).
Use these files from the command line or CI
Every URL is stable and CORS-open. Pin the SHA-256 in your test and you will know the moment a fixture changes.
# Download one file curl -O https://pnb-website-bucket.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/samples/images/heic/sample-image-1280x720.heic # Verify it (SHA-256 is listed for every file above) shasum -a 256 sample-image-1280x720.heic # Machine-readable index of every sample file curl https://pnb-website-bucket.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/samples/index.json | jq '.files[] | select(.format=="heic")'
HEIC format at a glance
| Full name | High Efficiency Image Container (HEIF/HEVC) |
|---|---|
| Extensions | .heic, .heif |
| MIME type | image/heic |
| Standard | ISO/IEC 23008-12 (HEIF, 2015); Apple adoption 2017 |
| Compression | HEVC (H.265) intra-frame, lossy |
| Colour | Up to 16-bit, wide gamut (Display P3) |
| Transparency | Yes |
| Browser support | Safari only |
| Magic bytes | … 66 74 79 70 68 65 69 63 ("ftypheic") at offset 4 |
What people test with sample HEIC files
- iPhone photo uploads to web forms
- Server-side HEIC → JPG conversion (libheif, ImageMagick, sharp)
- MIME sniffing — many servers label HEIC as application/octet-stream
- Email and messaging attachments
Frequently asked questions
Why can't I open a HEIC file on Windows?
Windows needs the HEIF Image Extensions and HEVC Video Extensions from the Microsoft Store (the HEVC one is paid). Most people instead convert HEIC to JPG — on an iPhone, Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible switches the camera back to JPG.
How should a web app handle HEIC uploads?
Accept the file, convert it to JPG or WebP on the server (libheif-based tools such as sharp, ImageMagick or Pillow with pillow-heif), and store the converted copy for display. Do not rely on the browser to preview it — only Safari can.
Are these HEIC files safe to download?
Yes. Every file is generated by our own open script from scratch — nothing is scraped or user-uploaded — and contains no scripts, macros or executables. The SHA-256 of each file is published on this page so you can verify what you received.
Can I use the sample HEIC files commercially?
Yes. They are free for any purpose, including commercial products, test suites, demos and redistribution, with no attribution required. There is nothing to license and no one to ask.
Can I hotlink these files or use them in CI?
Yes. Every link is a stable direct URL over HTTPS with Access-Control-Allow-Origin: * and long cache headers, so curl, wget, fetch() and test runners can pull them directly. A JSON index of every file is linked from each page (see the command-line section).
Related sample files
Free tools that work with HEIC
- Image Converter — Convert images between PNG, JPG, and WebP right in your browser. Files never leave your device.
Testing a file pipeline? We build them.
Uploads, conversions, previews, document processing and media workflows are the kind of production systems Pine & Birch designs and runs for clients — which is why we needed these files in the first place.
See how we can help