How to add support for HEIC images with ImageMagick in PHP

We're adding server support for HEIC images by executing ImageMagick shell scripts. This way, we're bypassing the GD or Imagick libraries.

PublishedNovember 8, 2021

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How to add support for HEIC images with ImageMagick in PHP

Geni Jaho

Full-stack web dev with a passion for software architecture and programming best coffees.

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Geni Jaho | Laravel Developer

12 posts

... private const TEMP_HEIC_STORAGE_DIR = 'app/heic_images/'; protected function convertHeic(UploadedFile $file): \Intervention\Image\Image { $extension = $file->getClientOriginalExtension(); // Generating a random filename, and not using the image's // original filename to handle cases // that contain spaces or other weird characters $randomFilename = bin2hex(random_bytes(8)); // Path for a temporary file from the upload // storage/app/heic_images/sample1.heic $tmpFilepath = storage_path( self::TEMP_HEIC_STORAGE_DIR . $randomFilename . ".$extension" ); // Path for a converted temporary file // storage/app/heic_images/sample1.jpg $convertedFilepath = storage_path( self::TEMP_HEIC_STORAGE_DIR . $randomFilename . '.jpg' ); // Store the uploaded HEIC file on the server File::put($tmpFilepath, $file->getContent()); // Run a shell command to execute ImageMagick conversion exec('magick convert ' . $tmpFilepath . ' ' . $convertedFilepath); // Make the image from the new converted file $image = Image::make($convertedFilepath); // Remove the temporary files from storage unlink($tmpFilepath); unlink($convertedFilepath); return $image; }

What about extracting image data? (EXIF)

Yeah, you probably can't extract EXIF data from HEIC images at this time, but the conversion we did above does copy the image data. To our surprise, it works only if we're converting to JPG images. It didn't work with PNG, and we haven't tried with other formats. So once you have the converted image in PHP, just go with $image->exif() and you should be just fine.

The code used for illustration is taken from the OpenLitterMap project. They're doing a great job creating the world's most advanced open database on litter, brands & plastic pollution. The project is open-sourced and would love your contributions, both as users and developers.

Command Palette

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What about extracting image data? (EXIF)