What is the MIME type of .heic files?
The MIME type (media type) for HEIC image files with the .heic extension is image/heic. You may also see image/heif. Default photo format on iPhones. Only Safari can display it; convert to JPEG or WebP for the web.
Content-Type header
Content-Type: image/heicServer configuration
| Server | Configuration |
|---|---|
Nginx (mime.types or types {}) | image/heic heic; |
Apache (.htaccess) | AddType image/heic .heic |
IIS (web.config) | <mimeMap fileExtension=".heic" mimeType="image/heic" /> |
| Node.js / Express | res.type('heic') or res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'image/heic') |
| Amazon S3 | Set Content-Type: image/heic on the object (metadata), or pass --content-type image/heic to aws s3 cp |
Should .heic files be compressed?
No. HEIC image files are already compressed internally, so gzip or Brotli would waste CPU and barely reduce — sometimes even increase — the size. Leave image/heic out of your compression configuration.
Why the MIME type matters
Browsers decide what to do with a response — render, run, play or download — from the Content-Type header, not the file extension. With X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff, a wrong type causes stylesheets and scripts to be blocked outright. For uploads, never trust the type sent by the client; check the file’s content (its magic bytes) on the server.
Frequently asked questions
What is the MIME type for .heic?
image/heic. Alternatives seen in the wild: image/heif.How do I set the Content-Type for .heic in Nginx?
image/heic heic; is listed in the types block (usually in /etc/nginx/mime.types) and reload Nginx.