High Efficiency Image File Format (HEIF) specifies the storage of individual images as well as image sequences in a single container file. It is an MPEG standard and defined by part 12 of MPEG-H (ISO/IEC 23008-12).
HEIF specification defines the means of storing High Efficiency Video Codec (HEVC) encoded intra images and HEVC encoded image sequences in which inter prediction is applied in a constrained manner. HEIF files are compatible with the ISO Base Media File Format (ISOBMFF, ISO/IEC 14496-12) and can also include other media streams, such as timed text and audio.
History
The requirements and main use cases of HEIF were defined in 2013 [1][2].The technical development of the specification took about 1.5 years and was finalized in summer 2015[3].
Use Cases
Some main use cases supported by HEIF are as follows[1][2]:
- Storage of single or multiple images and their thumbnails,
- Storage of burst photos,
- Support for simultaneous capture of video and still images, i.e. storing still images and timed image sequences into the same file,
- Efficient representation of animations and cinemagraphs,
- Storage of focal and exposure stacks into the same container file,
- Storage of images derived from other images of the file, either as derived images represented by non-destructive image editing operations or as pre-computed derived images,
- Support for storing other media, such as audio and timed text, into the same container file with timed image sequences and synchronizing their playback.
References
- ^ a b "Requirements for still image coding using HEVC | MPEG". mpeg.chiariglione.org. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
- ^ a b "Requirements for HEVC image sequences | MPEG". mpeg.chiariglione.org. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
- ^ "Evidence motivates MPEG to launch new standardization effort for HDR".