Many people want to take photos or images in JPEG instead of HIEC on iPhone , although they do not know that the HIEC format (also known as HIEF) is able to save storage space on our devices while maintaining excellent image quality..
While the efficiency of HIEF versus JPEG cannot be argued, it still has a long way to go in terms of compatibility. As there are still not many platforms that support this native iPhone format, let's see how to take our images in JPEG instead of HIEC.
Main differences between HIEC and JPEG format
Apple made the decision to adopt the HIEF format with the release of iOS 11. Apple made the decision to coin the name HIEC; this is how HIEC became a variant of HIEF on iPhone..
As the first major adopter of the file format, Apple introduced HIEC as a very important and innovative feature to its users. With advanced and modern compression methods, HIEC is able to save images from smaller files, while maintaining the best image quality.
A HIEC image is capable of occupying almost half the space of an equivalent quality JPG file. Which translates into being able to store more images on our iPhone, maintaining excellent quality..
As for the JPEG format, it was introduced in 1992 and is the most popular format for compressing digital images. It is capable of 10: 1 compression with very little loss of image quality.
Set default photos to JPEG
Whether for the devices using iOS 15, iOS 14, and iOS 13, the steps are the same. Therefore, regardless of the iOS version we are using, we can take photos or images in JPEG instead of HIEC by default on our iPhone.
The first thing we will do is open the Settings application on iPhone. After this we are going to scroll down and open “Camera”.
Once we are in the "Camera" section, we will have to go to "Formats" at the top.
Now we will have two options to choose from:
- High efficiency: we can capture photos and videos in high definition HIEF (image) and HEVC (video) formats.
- More compatible: it gives us the possibility to take JPEG photos and videos in H.264 format, respectively.
All we have to do is choose "Most Compatible" in the settings and that would be it. In this way, every time we take photos or record videos we will do so in JPEG or H.264 format in the case of videos.
Obviously, if we ever regret it and want to reverse our selection. We will have to repeat all the previous steps, only we will choose "High efficiency".