# nokiatech/heif

High Efficiency Image File Format

Repository: https://github.com/nokiatech/heif
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/heif
Language: C++
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Last push: 2026-05-28T08:04:39+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 70/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 84, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3971, "days_push": 97, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1789, forks 249 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:36.446706+00:00)

## What it is
Nokia's C++ implementation of the HEIF (High Efficiency Image File Format) standard, ISO/IEC 23008-12, providing reader and writer libraries for HEIF image files and sequences. It includes a Java API via JNI and demonstrates the format's features such as image items, sequences, and multi-layered images.

## Use cases
- read and write HEIF image files in C++
- parse HEIF container structure
- create HEIF image sequences programmatically
- work with HEIF files from Java via JNI
- generate MIAF-conformant media files
- validate HEIF conformance test files

## When to choose
- you need low-level programmatic control over HEIF file structure
- you are implementing HEIF support in a C++ or Java application
- you need to write HEIF files, not just read them
- you need MIAF or multi-layered image support

## When to avoid
- you just need to convert or view HEIC images in a user-facing tool
- you want a high-level encoder with broad codec support
- you need an actively maintained library with frequent updates
- you need a pure Python or JavaScript solution

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: maintenance
- function: image-processing, parser, serialization, sdk
- domain: image-processing, media, files, developer-tools
- platform: cpp, cross-platform, jvm
- tags: heif, isobmff, hevc, image-container, miaf, jni

## Member repositories
- nokiatech/heif (main) score 70

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:36.446706+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T03:23:19.371394+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/nokiatech/heif (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:36.446706+00:00, sha 87df75f2534e)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.