HEIF is a new image file format employing HEVC (h.265) image coding for the best compression ratios currently possible.

libheif makes use of libde265 for the actual image decoding and x265 for encoding. Alternative codecs for, e.g., AVC and JPEG can be provided as plugins.

Supported decoder features:
- tiled images
- alpha channels
- thumbnails
- reading EXIF data
- reading the depth channel
- multiple images in a HEIF file
- image transformations (crop, mirror, rotate)
- overlay images
- plugin interface to add decoders for additional formats (AVC, JPEG)

Supported encoder features:
- lossy compression with adjustable quality
- lossless compression
- alpha channels

libheif is released under the LGPL, further information are available at
http://www.libheif.org
https://github.com/strukturag/libheif

You can find official builds in the PPA at
https://launchpad.net/~strukturag/+archive/libheif