HEIC isn’t a proprietary codec, it’s an ISO standard

pornel · on May 21, 2020

But it's built on patented codec (H.265). It's illegal to use it without a patent license, regardless whether it's a standard or not. Even if you wrote your own implementation, it would be illegal for you to use your own code.

Technically HEIF is a good format — it's half the size of WebP. WebP is based on a much weaker codec that is two generations older. AVIF is a freely-licensed HEIF alternative.

gbear605 · on May 21, 2020

My understanding (based on http://www.hackerfactor.com/blog/index.php?/archives/833-HEI... ) is that HEIC is not built on patents while HEVC is, so HEVC is problematic to use, but HEIC isn’t.

kuyaz · on May 22, 2020

As it states in your source

> The HEIC holds the HEIF data that is compressed using HEVC by MPEG

Wrapping a HEVC file in a container does not automatically void any patents of the contained file. Otherwise, anyone can shove any patent encumbered file format in a ".zip" container (or any container/wrapper) and avoid any patent or licensing issues.