HEIC image files in Linux

I was at an event recently where the attendees were asked to upload their camera and smartphone photos and videos to a shared Google Drive folder. Some of the uploaded photo files have a .HEIC (High Efficiency Image Container) extension, which I had not come across before. I have since learnt that these HEIC files were produced by iPhones running iOS 11, encoded using the HEIF (High Efficiency Image File) format. Apparently the HEIF format is superior to the JPEG format in a number of ways (see the links at the end of my post, especially the image examples given by Nokia), although it is subject to patents and therefore I believe there are certain constraints to coding image files in HEIC format. Anyway, I’ll leave you to read the fine print. My interest was simply because I wanted to be able to download the above-mentioned photo files and view them all in the file managers and image-viewing applications in Linux and Android on my various devices.

Now, I can browse and view the above-mentioned shared HEIC images in Google Drive in the Firefox and Chrome browsers in Linux, although an ownCloud site viewed using the same browsers displays the HEIC files as grey icons that can only be downloaded, not opened and viewed in the browser. I also found that Cirrus, the Android app for ownCloud that I use on my Galaxy Note 8 phone, cannot display HEIC photos either.

I downloaded the HEIC files to a machine running Lubuntu 18.04 and to a machine running Gentoo Linux. The file manager PCManFM in Lubuntu 18.04 displays grey icons rather than thumbnails for these HEIC files, and KDE’s Dolphin 18.08.3 file manager in Gentoo Linux displays green image icons rather than thumbnails for them. As far as Linux image viewers go, in Lubuntu 18.04 I find that GPicView 0.2.5 and Geeqie 1.4 cannot display HEIC images, and in Gentoo Linux KDE I find that GQview 2.1.5-r1, Okular 18.08.3 and Gwenview 18.08.3 cannot display HEIC images. So I set about converting all the HEIC files to JPG files. I managed to do this but needed to use a range of tools, as illustrated by a couple of examples below for Lubuntu 18.04 and Gentoo Linux. This post might seem long-winded but perhaps may be of help to Linux users coming across .HEIC files for the first time.

From the .HEIC files I had downloaded I picked one at random to try and convert to a JPG file: IMG_3706.HEIC. Its EXIF data confirms it is an HEIC file:

user $ exiftool IMG_3706.HEIC | grep "File Type"
File Type                       : HEIC
File Type Extension             : heic
user $ exiftool IMG_3706.HEIC | grep "Camera Model"
Camera Model Name               : iPhone 7 Plus

Several of the files with the .HEIC suffix that I downloaded were not real HEIC files according to their EXIF data:

user $ exiftool IMG_9474.HEIC | grep "File Type"
File Type                       : JPEG
File Type Extension             : jpg
user $ exiftool IMG_9474.HEIC | grep "Camera Model"
Camera Model Name               : iPhone 8

Those files were apparently treated as JPEG files by the tools I mention below, so I have omitted the results for those ‘false’ HEIC files.

Lubuntu 18.04

1. I installed the libheif example tools:

user $ sudo apt install libheif-examples

2. I used the heif-info command to check the file:

user $ heif-info IMG_3706.HEIC 
image: 3024x4032 (id=49), primary
  thumbnail: 240x320
  alpha channel: no
  depth channel: no

3. I tried to convert the file using the heif-convert command:

user $ heif-convert IMG_3706.HEIC IMG_3706.jpg
File contains 1 images
Written to IMG_3706.jpg

4. Apparently Imagemagick >=7.0.7-22 compiled with --with-libheif is supposed to be able to convert HEIC files to JPG. Anyway, I tried to convert the file using the current version of Imagemagick in Lubuntu 18.04 (the current package version is 8:6.9.7.4+dfsg-16ubuntu6.4):

user $ convert IMG_3706.HEIC IMG_3706a.jpg
convert-im6.q16: no decode delegate for this image format `HEIC' @ error/constitute.c/ReadImage/504.
convert-im6.q16: no images defined `IMG_3706a.jpg' @ error/convert.c/ConvertImageCommand/3258.

5. Apparently the GIMP >=2.10.2 supports HEIF by using heif-gimp-plugin. Anyway, I tried to open the file with the current version of the GIMP in Lubuntu 18.04 (the current package version is 2.8.22-1). The GIMP launches and pops-up a window with the title ‘GIMP Message’ containing the following message and an ‘OK’ button:

GIMP Message
Opening /home/fitzcarraldo/IMG_3706.HEIC’ failed: Unknown file type

6. I used the online tool ‘libheif decoder demo’ (https://strukturag.github.io/libheif/) in a browser window. This can load the file IMG_3706.HEIC (‘Browse…’ button) and convert it (‘Save image…’ button) to IMG_3706.jpeg.

Gentoo Linux with KDE 5

1. I installed the libheif example tools implicitly by re-merging Imagemagick with USE="heif", which installs libheif.

root # cat /etc/portage/package.use/imagemagick 
media-gfx/imagemagick heif
root # emerge imagemagick

2. I used the heif-info command to check the file:

user $ heif-info IMG_3706.HEIC  
image: 3024x4032 (id=49), primary
  thumbnail: 240x320
  alpha channel: no
  depth channel: no

3. I tried to convert the file using the heif-convert command:

user $ heif-convert IMG_3706.HEIC IMG_3706.jpg
File contains 1 images
Written to IMG_3706.jpg

4. I tried to convert the file using Imagemagick >=7.0.7-22 compiled with --with-libheif (Imagemagick merged with USE="heif"):

user $ convert IMG_3706.HEIC IMG_3706a.jpg
user $

So Imagemagick 7.0.8.16 in Gentoo has no trouble with the file IMG_3706.HEIC.

5. I tried to open the file with the GIMP >=2.10.2, which supports HEIF using heif-gimp-plugin (GIMP >=2.10.6-r1 with USE="heif" in the case of Gentoo Linux)

First I re-merged the GIMP with the heif USE flag:

root # cat /etc/portage/package.accept_keywords/gimp
=media-gfx/gimp-2.10.8-r1 ~amd64
# required by media-gfx/gimp-2.10.8-r1::gentoo
=media-libs/libmypaint-1.3.0 ~amd64
# required by media-gfx/gimp-2.10.8-r1::gentoo
=media-gfx/mypaint-brushes-1.3.0-r1 ~amd64
# required by media-gfx/gimp-2.10.8-r1::gentoo
=media-libs/gegl-0.4.12 ~amd64
# required by media-gfx/gimp-2.10.8-r1::gentoo
=media-libs/babl-0.1.60 ~amd64
root # cat /etc/portage/package.use/gimp
media-gfx/gimp heif
root # emerge -1vp gimp

These are the packages that would be merged, in order:

Calculating dependencies... done!
[ebuild  N    ~] media-gfx/mypaint-brushes-1.3.0-r1:1.0::gentoo  2,390 KiB
[ebuild     U ~] media-libs/babl-0.1.60::gentoo [0.1.38::gentoo] USE="(-altivec)" CPU_FLAGS_X86="mmx sse sse2 sse3%* sse4_1 -f16c" 670 KiB
[ebuild  N     ] media-libs/gexiv2-0.10.8::gentoo  USE="-introspection -python -static-libs -test -vala" PYTHON_TARGETS="python2_7 python3_6 -python3_4 -python3_5" 620 KiB
[ebuild  NS   ~] media-libs/gegl-0.4.12:0.4::gentoo [0.2.0-r5:0::gentoo] USE="cairo ffmpeg introspection lcms openexr sdl svg tiff v4l -debug -jpeg2k -lensfun -libav -raw -test -umfpack -vala -webp" CPU_FLAGS_X86="mmx sse" 6,900 KiB
[ebuild  NS    ] media-libs/gegl-0.3.26:0.3::gentoo [0.2.0-r5:0::gentoo] USE="cairo ffmpeg introspection lcms openexr sdl svg tiff v4l -debug -jpeg2k -lensfun -raw -test -umfpack -vala -webp" CPU_FLAGS_X86="mmx sse" 6,378 KiB
[ebuild  N    ~] media-libs/libmypaint-1.3.0::gentoo  USE="gegl nls openmp -introspection" 428 KiB
[ebuild     U ~] media-gfx/gimp-2.10.8-r1:2::gentoo [2.8.22-r1:2::gentoo] USE="alsa heif%* mng openexr%* udev wmf -aalib (-altivec) (-aqua) -debug -doc -gnome -jpeg2k -postscript -python -smp -test -unwind% -vector-icons% -webp% -xpm (-bzip2%*) (-curl%) (-dbus%*) (-exif%*) (-jpeg%*) (-lcms%*) (-pdf%*) (-png%*) (-svg%*) (-tiff%*)" CPU_FLAGS_X86="mmx sse" PYTHON_TARGETS="python2_7" 31,206 KiB

Total: 7 packages (2 upgrades, 3 new, 2 in new slots), Size of downloads: 48,591 KiB

I then launched the GIMP and successfully opened the file IMG_3706.HEIC, and I was able to export it as IMG_3706.jpg.

6. As would be expected, the online tool ‘libheif decoder demo’ (https://strukturag.github.io/libheif/) behaves exactly the same in Gentoo Linux as it does in Lubuntu 18.04 (see earlier).

Summary

So there you have it; if the Linux file manager and/or image viewing applications you use cannot already handle HEIC files, the tools in Linux that I found may work are as follows:

• heif-convert (from the package libheif-examples in Ubuntu/Lubuntu, or from from the package libheif in Gentoo).
• Imagemagick (not every version).
• The GIMP (not every version).
• the online tool ‘libheif decoder demo’ (https://strukturag.github.io/libheif/).

I have not tried the copyright open-source code from Nokia (see link under Further Reading below), qt-heif-image-plugin and tifig (not in active development). If you have had success using another tool to convert HEIC files, please post a comment below for the benefit of other users, giving the name of the tool, the package name and version, and the Linux distribution (including release number, if not a rolling distribution).

Further reading

1. Wikipedia – High Efficiency Image File Format
2. Lifewire – What Are HEIF and HEIC, and Why Is Apple Using Them?
3. Nokia – High Efficiency Image File Format (HEIF)
4. libheif – a ISO/IEC 23008-12:2017 HEIF file format decoder and encoder
5. askubuntu – Any app on Ubuntu to open HEIF (.heic, High Efficiency Image File Format) pictures?