libheif

libheif is a decoder and encoder for ISO/IEC 23008-12 HEIF and AVIF (AV1 Image File Format) files. It supports high compression ratios using HEVC (H.265) or AV1 coding. Additionally, it supports HEIF images coded with VVC, AVC, JPEG, JPEG-2000, and uncompressed (ISO/IEC 23001-17) formats.

The library uses external codec libraries (like libde265, x265, libaom, dav1d, etc.) and can be built with a subset of codecs or as dynamic plugins to manage dependencies and binary size.

libheif provides specialized APIs for advanced image types:

• Image Sequences and MP4 Video: libheif can read and write HEIF image sequences and MP4 video (without audio) using all supported codecs. Refer to the image sequences API documentation.
• High-resolution Tiled Images: For very large images that cannot be processed entirely in memory, libheif supports tile-by-tile decoding and encoding. Refer to the image tiling API documentation.

Use the vcpkg dependency manager to build and install libheif on Windows:

git clone https://github.com/Microsoft/vcpkg.git
cd vcpkg
./bootstrap-vcpkg.bat
./vcpkg integrate install
./vcpkg install libheif

libheif uses CMake for its build system. For a minimal configuration, it is recommended to use libde265 and x265 for HEIC, and AOM for AVIF. Ensure libde265 is compiled and installed before building libheif.

Basic build steps (requires CMake >= 3.21):

mkdir build
cd build
cmake --preset=release ..
make

libheif provides several CMake presets to cover common use cases:

• release: The preferred preset. Compiles all codecs as separate plugins.
• release-noplugins: A smaller, self-contained build without the plugin system. Builds a single library with support for HEIC and AVIF.
• testing: Builds and executes unit tests. Exposes internal library symbols. Do not use for distribution.
• fuzzing: Configures all codecs into a self-contained library with enabled fuzzers. Do not use for distribution.

To install libheif on macOS, use Homebrew for dependencies and then build from source:

1. Install dependencies:

brew install cmake make pkg-config x265 libde265 libjpeg libtool

2. Configure and build (requires CMake >= 3.21):

mkdir build
cd build
cmake --preset=release ..
./configure
make

libheif can be compiled to JavaScript using Emscripten. Use the build-emscripten.sh script in the root directory:

To build with standard JavaScript output:

mkdir buildjs
cd buildjs
USE_WASM=0 ../build-emscripten.sh ..

To build with WASM output, set USE_WASM=1.

You can control which codecs are included and whether they are built-in or as dynamic plugins using CMake variables. To use dynamic plugins, ENABLE_PLUGIN_LOADING must be enabled.

For each codec, use:

• WITH_{codec}: Enables the codec.
• WITH_{codec}_PLUGIN: Compiles the codec as a separate plugin.

Supported {codec} placeholders: LIBDE265, X265, AOM_DECODER, AOM_ENCODER, SvtEnc, DAV1D, OpenH264, X264, FFMPEG_DECODER, JPEG_DECODER, JPEG_ENCODER, KVAZAAR, OpenJPEG_DECODER, OpenJPEG_ENCODER, OPENJPH_ENCODER, VVDEC, VVENC, UVG266, WEBCODECS.

Libheif uses security limits to prevent memory exhaustion or DoS attacks from malicious files.

• Programmatically: Use heif_security_limits to set individual limits when using the API.
• CLI: Use the --disable-limits option with heif-dec to switch off limits.
• Globally: Set the environment variable LIBHEIF_SECURITY_LIMITS=off to disable limits globally. Warning: Only do this if you are certain you are not processing malicious files.