What file type are photos on Android?

Last reviewed: October 22, 2026 · Markdown version

JPEG, a .jpg file, or, if the camera has been set to save space, a format called HEIF, which arrives as .heic. Which of the two your phone writes is a camera setting, not something Android decides for every phone, and the makers' help pages describe the switch without telling you which way it starts. A third kind, RAW, appears only when you ask for it.

What Android itself can open

Google's platform table lists the picture formats built in: BMP, GIF, JPEG (.jpg), PNG, WebP, HEIF (.heic; .heif) and AVIF. Its HEIF row gives decoding from Android 9.0 and encoding from Android 10, and carries the note "Device optional" (Supported media formats, Android Developers, read 22 October 2026). So HEIF is a format Android knows about, but a given phone is not required to handle it. That one word, optional, is one reason a .heic picture can open on one phone and not on the next.

Samsung Galaxy: the "high efficiency" switch

Samsung documents the setting in its camera guides. For the Galaxy S23 it sits in the Camera app's Settings under Advanced picture options: "High efficiency pictures: Save space by capturing pictures in HEIF (high efficiency image) format. Some apps and websites do not support HEIF pictures." The same list offers Pro mode a choice of "JPEG format, RAW and JPEG formats, or RAW format" (The best camera features on your Galaxy S23, Samsung US, read 22 October 2026). On the Galaxy S26 the entry is called Photo format, reached through the four-dot Quick controls and then Settings: "Save space by capturing pictures with Photo mode in high efficiency image format (HEIF)" (Use camera features on Galaxy S26, Samsung US, read 22 October 2026).

Neither Samsung page says whether the switch is on or off when the phone is new; both are silent on the default. Check your own camera's settings instead of assuming, or look at the end of a recent photo's file name.

Pixel: JPEG, with RAW as an extra

Google's Pixel Camera help documents one format choice, RAW. You turn on RAW/JPEG control under Settings, More settings, Advanced (not needed on Pixel 8 Pro), then switch on RAW + JPEG in photo mode (Change your Camera app settings, Pixel Camera Help, read 22 October 2026). With it on, "your camera saves your image files in JPEG + RAW format", and Google Photos shows a "RAW" badge on those pairs (Edit a photo or video on your Pixel phone or tablet, Pixel Camera Help, read 22 October 2026). The settings page we read does not mention HEIF at all, and neither page names the RAW file's extension, so we will not either.

How to tell what you have

Look at the name. A file manager shows the full name; the letters after the last dot are the type. .jpg or .jpeg is JPEG, .heic or .heif is HEIF.
Expect HEIF to be the one that causes trouble. Samsung's own warning about apps and websites is the practical cost, paid when you upload or send a picture somewhere else.
Backups take both. Google Photos lists "Photos: .jpg, .heic, .heif, .png, .webp, .gif, .avif, and most RAW files" among what it can back up (Back up photos & videos, Google Photos Help, read 22 October 2026).

Renaming a .heic to .jpg does not convert it; it only changes the label, as our extension page explains.

What Adinand Auto File Sorter does with each type

The app files pictures by their extension and nothing else. In a folder it watches, Downloads by default, a .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .webp or .gif goes to the Images category; a .heic is not on that list, so it goes to Others. On Pro, a custom rule with the extension heic can send those to a folder of their own. The camera's own folder is never one of its ready-made watched folders, so it does not sort the photos you take out of the box.