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HEIC/HEIF to Plain text converter

HEIC to TXT decodes the HEIC to PNG before OCR, and the app-generated HEIC returned the same 434-byte transcript as the PNG source.

  • Converted with AI Deep Read · input deleted within 24 h
  • Free: 5 conversions a day · 5 MB each
  • Higher limits →

From real runs

What you get — and what changes

  • HEIC container Changed

    The file was accepted as HEIC, then decoded to PNG by the imaging sidecar before Deep Read called Azure.

  • Bit depth Changed

    The app-generated HEIC measured 8-bit sRGB; phone 10-bit HEIC captures are reduced to the PNG pixels sent for OCR.

  • Screenshot text Kept

    The title, paragraph, three bullet items, owner, due date, and status all matched the PNG transcript.

  • Orientation Kept

    No rotation was needed in the test file, and the decoded OCR output preserved the upright reading order.

  • ICC profile Changed

    sips reported an sRGB IEC61966-2.1 profile on the generated HEIC, but TXT output keeps no color metadata.

  • Visual styling Lost

    The white card, pale blue callout, and source image dimensions were dropped because TXT carries only characters.

  • Runtime Kept

    The 119 KB HEIC finished in 4.6 seconds, returned 434 bytes of text, and spent one Deep Read credit.

Sample conversions

App-generated HEIC screenshot

Input
HEIC made by the converter from the release-note PNG, measuring 1400 by 1000 pixels, 8-bit, no alpha, and sRGB.
Output
TXT kept the release-note title, the invoice-ingestion paragraph, three bullets, and the owner/date/status labels.

HEIC status strip from the same image

Input
Lower callout region containing AP Automation ownership, a 2026-09-30 due date, and a draft status on a blue background.
Output
The values were extracted as text lines. The blue fill, border, and side-by-side arrangement were not represented.

A real HEIC/HEIF → Plain text run

We converted our HEIC/HEIF sample (115 KB) with AI Deep Read under AI Deep Read on 2026-09-11. It took 4.5 s and produced a 497 B Plain text file, 100% smaller than the input. The engine raised 1 warning, listed below.

Input · sample.heic · 115 KB

1240 × 1754 px, heic

Width
1,240
Height
1,754
Encoding
heic

Output · sample.txt · 497 B

14 non-empty lines, 97 words

Lines
14
Words
97
  • AI Deep Read read 1 page; 1 credit per page

First lines of the output

txt
# Feedback Atlas — Q3 activity trail

Prepared for: Board of Directors · 12 Sep 2026

## Headline numbers

| Metric | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---:|---:|
| ARR | $4.1M | $4.9M |
| Net revenue retention | 108% | 113% |
| Support CSAT | 93% | 94% |
| Refunds | (12,400) | (9,850) |

## What went well

- Enterprise pipeline doubled after the SOC 2 report shipped.
- Support CSAT held at 94% while ticket volume rose 31%.
- Two renewals slipped into October. Owner: VP Sales.
…

Is your file a scan?

HEIC inputs are decoded to PNG before Deep Read and cost 1 credit per image. The tested converter-made HEIC was 8-bit sRGB with no alpha; 10-bit phone color is reduced for the OCR path, which matters for image fidelity but not for most printed text.

Options and when to change them

languageHint
Set this for iPhone photos of labels, notes, or signage in a known language that lacks surrounding context.
preserveLayout
Enable it when a HEIC photo contains a form, receipt, or screenshot where placement affects meaning.

Do it yourself

sips + Tesseract

bash
sips -s format png photo.heic --out photo.png
tesseract photo.png photo --psm 6

The local command chain worked on the app-generated HEIC, but it kept harder line wraps and used guillemets for bullets.

HEIC/HEIF to Plain text by API or MCP

The HTTP API and the MCP server run the exact engine this page uses (AI Deep Read); the response carries the same warnings the web converter shows. Check support first with GET /api/v1/pairs?from=heic&to=txt.

curl
curl -X POST https://filetypeconverters.com/api/v1/convert \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FTC_API_KEY" \
  -F "file=@input.heic" -F "from=heic" -F "to=txt" \
  -F "deepRead=true" \
  --output output.txt
API reference

When this is the wrong conversion

  • If you only need a browser-friendly image, use /convert/heic-to-jpg or /convert/heic-to-png instead of OCR.
  • If the HEIC is a receipt that must balance, use a spreadsheet target rather than /convert/heic-to-txt.
  • If the text already exists in Notes, Mail, or a web page, export that source text rather than OCRing a phone image.

HEIC/HEIF to Plain text questions

Does HEIC to TXT send HEIC bytes to the model?

No. The app decodes HEIC through the imaging sidecar and sends a PNG image to Deep Read. That fixed the earlier model-side 400 response for HEIC OCR.

What happens to 10-bit iPhone HEIC color?

OCR is performed on the decoded PNG pixels rather than the original high-bit-depth container. Keep the HEIC if color fidelity matters, because the TXT transcript has no color data.

Will EXIF orientation be respected?

The decode path applies EXIF transposition before OCR. The tested file had no rotation to correct, and the resulting text read in the expected order.

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