HEIC is a container, not an image format
A .heic file is ISO Base Media File Format — the same box structure as an MP4. What it holds is a collection of items: usually one HEVC-encoded picture, often a thumbnail, sometimes a depth map, an HDR gain map, or several full frames from a burst. The metadata is an item too. EXIF sits in its own item, pointed at by a reference box that says which picture it describes, rather than sitting in a header the way it does in a JPEG.
Why the preview sometimes will not appear
HEVC is patent-encumbered, so Safari decodes HEIC natively and most other browsers do not. When the browser refuses, the workspace decodes the file with a WebAssembly decoder to produce the preview. That is slower, and on a large photo it can fail — in which case you get the tags with a note that the picture itself could not be drawn. The reading of metadata never depends on decoding the image, so the tags are there either way.
What an iPhone actually writes
Full EXIF: camera model, lens, exposure, orientation and the capture time, with GPS latitude, longitude and often altitude when location is on. On top of that, Apple maker notes — a vendor block holding things like the burst identifier and scene-classification hints. A Live Photo also references a paired video, which is a separate file and not something this workspace opens.
The shape of a HEIC
- Structure
- Can hold metadata
- The picture
Where a HEIC keeps things
- meta
- The box holding every non-picture item in the file.
- iinf / iloc
- What items exist, and the byte offset of each.
- Exif item
- A complete TIFF-structured EXIF block, camera and GPS included.
- mime item
- XMP, when an editor has written any.
- iref
- Which item describes which picture.
- colr
- The colour profile, lost when the file is re-encoded.
Questions about HEIC
Can I read a HEIC if my browser cannot display it?Open
Yes. Reading the tags means walking the file's box structure, which does not need an HEVC decoder. You will see every tag; the preview is what may be missing.
Does a HEIC from an iPhone contain GPS?Open
It does whenever location was enabled for the camera at the moment of the shot, usually with altitude as well. Drop the file above and you will see the coordinates if they are there.
How do I remove metadata from a HEIC?Open
Through Re-encode Cleanup, because no browser can write a HEIC. The image is decoded and exported as a JPEG with nothing embedded — so you get a clean file, in a different container, at whatever quality the re-encode gives.
Why is my HEIC several photos in one file?Open
Because the container allows it. Bursts, depth maps for portrait mode and HDR gain maps are stored as extra items alongside the main picture. The tag table shows the metadata for the primary image.
What it can do
- Remove EXIF data
- Drop a photo and download a copy with its embedded metadata removed. JPEG loses its EXIF segment losslessly; HEIC, PNG, WebP and the rest are re-encoded. Nothing is uploaded.
- Remove GPS location
- See the coordinates a photo is carrying, then download a copy without them. JPEG loses the location tags and keeps everything else. Nothing is uploaded.
- Edit JPEG EXIF
- Change the title, author, description, copyright, software and capture time on a JPEG, then download the edited copy. Runs locally; your original file is never modified.
- XMP, IPTC and ICC viewer
- Read every metadata group a file carries — EXIF, XMP, IPTC, ICC, maker notes — grouped and exportable as JSON. For asset QA, forensics and debugging a pipeline. Nothing is uploaded.
- Open several photos
- Open up to fifty photos, see which of them carry a location, and take the whole set out as a spreadsheet. Nothing is uploaded, and the originals are never written to.