How to convert HEIC to GIF in PHP

If you are tearing your hair out because of HEIC format, know that you are definitely not the only one out there. The staggering amount of compatibility problems that this file type can cause is truly astounding. Leave it to Apple, right? That’s why today’s article is going to take the format right out of the equation entirely by demonstrating how to convert between over 100 image formats in very short order.

To access our API function, we first need to install our client. Open up Composer and run this command here:

composer require cloudmersive/cloudmersive_document_convert_api_client

Calling convertImageImageFormatConvert is the next step after our install has completed.

<?php
require_once(__DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php');
// Configure API key authorization: Apikey
$config = Swagger\Client\Configuration::getDefaultConfiguration()->setApiKey('Apikey', 'YOUR_API_KEY');
// Uncomment below to setup prefix (e.g. Bearer) for API key, if needed
// $config = Swagger\Client\Configuration::getDefaultConfiguration()->setApiKeyPrefix('Apikey', 'Bearer');
$apiInstance = new Swagger\Client\Api\ConvertImageApi(
// If you want use custom http client, pass your client which implements `GuzzleHttp\ClientInterface`.
// This is optional, `GuzzleHttp\Client` will be used as default.
new GuzzleHttp\Client(),
$config
);
$format1 = "format1_example"; // string | Input file format as a 3+ letter file extension.  You can also provide UNKNOWN for unknown file formats. Supported formats include AAI, ART, ARW, AVS, BPG, BMP, BMP2, BMP3, BRF, CALS, CGM, CIN, CMYK, CMYKA, CR2, CRW, CUR, CUT, DCM, DCR, DCX, DDS, DIB, DJVU, DNG, DOT, DPX, EMF, EPDF, EPI, EPS, EPS2, EPS3, EPSF, EPSI, EPT, EXR, FAX, FIG, FITS, FPX, GIF, GPLT, GRAY, HDR, HEIC, HPGL, HRZ, ICO, ISOBRL, ISBRL6, JBIG, JNG, JP2, JPT, J2C, J2K, JPEG/JPG, JXR, MAT, MONO, MNG, M2V, MRW, MTV, NEF, ORF, OTB, P7, PALM, PAM, PBM, PCD, PCDS, PCL, PCX, PDF, PEF, PES, PFA, PFB, PFM, PGM, PICON, PICT, PIX, PNG, PNG8, PNG00, PNG24, PNG32, PNG48, PNG64, PNM, PPM, PSB, PSD, PTIF, PWB, RAD, RAF, RGB, RGBA, RGF, RLA, RLE, SCT, SFW, SGI, SID, SUN, SVG, TGA, TIFF, TIM, UIL, VIFF, VICAR, VBMP, WDP, WEBP, WPG, X, XBM, XCF, XPM, XWD, X3F, YCbCr, YCbCrA, YUV
$format2 = "format2_example"; // string | Output (convert to this format) file format as a 3+ letter file extension.  Supported formats include AAI, ART, ARW, AVS, BPG, BMP, BMP2, BMP3, BRF, CALS, CGM, CIN, CMYK, CMYKA, CR2, CRW, CUR, CUT, DCM, DCR, DCX, DDS, DIB, DJVU, DNG, DOT, DPX, EMF, EPDF, EPI, EPS, EPS2, EPS3, EPSF, EPSI, EPT, EXR, FAX, FIG, FITS, FPX, GIF, GPLT, GRAY, HDR, HEIC, HPGL, HRZ, ICO, ISOBRL, ISBRL6, JBIG, JNG, JP2, JPT, J2C, J2K, JPEG/JPG, JXR, MAT, MONO, MNG, M2V, MRW, MTV, NEF, ORF, OTB, P7, PALM, PAM, PBM, PCD, PCDS, PCL, PCX, PDF, PEF, PES, PFA, PFB, PFM, PGM, PICON, PICT, PIX, PNG, PNG8, PNG00, PNG24, PNG32, PNG48, PNG64, PNM, PPM, PSB, PSD, PTIF, PWB, RAD, RAF, RGB, RGBA, RGF, RLA, RLE, SCT, SFW, SGI, SID, SUN, SVG, TGA, TIFF, TIM, UIL, VIFF, VICAR, VBMP, WDP, WEBP, WPG, X, XBM, XCF, XPM, XWD, X3F, YCbCr, YCbCrA, YUV
$input_file = "/path/to/file"; // \SplFileObject | Input file to perform the operation on.
try {
$result = $apiInstance->convertImageImageFormatConvert($format1, $format2, $input_file);
print_r($result);
} catch (Exception $e) {
echo 'Exception when calling ConvertImageApi->convertImageImageFormatConvert: ', $e->getMessage(), PHP_EOL;
}
?>

So far, so easy. Just select your desired formats from the commented list (noting the option for UNKNOWN input format) and that’s really all there is to it. No more HEIC headaches ever again!