How to Play HEVC/H265 Video on iPhone 8/Plus/7/6s/SE/6/5s in iOS 11

Posted by Estelle to convert video, 4K | June 13, 2017

Since the day that iPhone 6s supports 4K video recording, iPhone fans keep asking one question on forum: when Apple will support H265 HEVC natively on iOS? Thankfully, your guys question gets feedback on 2017 WWDC. The newly released iOS 11 supports new HEVC camera format to let you record video encoded with HEVC for high efficiency.

Does it also mean iPhone supports playing HEVC video natively in iOS 11? Theoretically speaking, it seems that there is no problem to play HEVC/H265 video on iPhone X/8/7/6s/SE iOS 11 devices if the HEVC video is recorded by your iOS 11 camera app. As for the HEVC video from external devices like computer, it's still unclear if iTunes can accept HEVC/H265 video and sync HEVC video to iPhone. What's worse, Apple claims that you can't use HEVC format on iPhone until your iOS device at least sports with A9 chip. Even if worse comes to worst, you can still play HEVC (H265) video on iPhone after converting HEVC/H265 to H264 with an HEVC video converter.

iTunes Not Syncing HEVC to iPhone? Convert HEVC

Though iOS 11 supports HEVC/H265 as camera format on A9+ iDevice, it doesn't mean iTunes 100% transfers HEVC to iPhone without issue. To play HEVC H265 video on iPhone, MacX Video Converter Pro can help: convert HEVC H265 to H264 iPhone supported video codec so as to import and play HEVC on iPhone 8/7/6s/6/5s iOS 11 without incompatibility issue or A9+ chip block.

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Part 1 - iTunes Alert: HEVC/H265 Video Won't Play on iPhone. Any Solution?

As we have mentioned before, currently it's no concrete evidence to show that we can freely play HEVC H265 video on iPhone. On one hand, even though we upgrade to iOS 11 on our A8 powered iPhone 6/Plus or A7-based iPhone 5s, we still can't use HEVC format on iOS 11, let alone play HEVC on iPhone 6/6+/5s. On the other hand, although iPhone X/8/7/6s/Plus/SE meet the A9 chip basic requirement, there is a high likelihood that HEVC video fails to play on iPhone X/8/7/6s/SE, especially when your import HEVC to iPhone via iTunes. The iTunes error message pops up: "XXX.h265.mp4" was not copied to the iPhone because it cannot be played on this iPhone.

In such cases, the silver bullet is to convert HEVC H265 to H264 for playback on iPhone X/8/7/6/6S (Plus). MacX Video Converter Pro can assist you to accomplish this HEVC H265 to H264 conversion task. The support of iPhone X/8 (Plus) is coming soon.

> Intel QSV hardware accelerated speed to convert H265 HEVC to H264 format at 250-320FPS, 5X faster than Handbrake.
> Convert and compress 4K video to 1080p, 1080p to 720p, 720p to 480p, to save video storage space on iPhone.
> Built-in with 350+ preset profiles, directly convert H265 HEVC video to iPhone 7/Plus, iPhone 6s/Plus/SE, iPhone 5s/c, new 10.5-inch iPad Pro, etc.
> Free download HEVC MKV movies videos from YouTube, Facebook, bliptv, crunchyroll, etc. 300+ safe legal websites with 100-300 MB in size.
> Further edit HEVC video to reduce file size, including cut off unwanted parts from video, crop black borders off video, lower video bit rate, etc.

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How to Decode HEVC and Convert HEVC/x265 to H264

Step 1: Add H265 HEVC Files
Load HEVC files via "Add Video" button or just drag and drop H265 files to this top HEVC video converter. Batch conversion is supported.

Step 2: Choose H264 as Output Format
Select H264 from "Mac General Video" profile. The most popular video MP4 MOV M4V are formatted with H264 or MPEG-4. Choose the one with H264 codec.

Step 3: Start to Convert HEVC to H264
Press "RUN" button and this H265 video converter will begin to HEVC/H265 to H264 on computer. After the HEVC to H264 conversion is over, you can eventually transfer HEVC to iPhone 8/7/Plus/6s/SE/6/5s via iTunes for smooth playback.

Optional: basically, you can save around 50% storage if you use H265 HEVC encoder instead of H264/AVC encoder. On account of better compatibility, you have to convert H265 HEVC to H264. And after that, the output video file you get will become 2 times larger than the previous one. If you need to downsize the output file size, you can utilize the video editing feature of this HEVC video converter. Click "Edit" icon to enter the video editing window, where you can enable "Trimming" feature to clear the unnecessary clips off video, free set the Start Time/End Time and use "Crop" feature to shrink the video image size with a marquee.

Part 2 - Can't Play Downloaded HEVC Movies/Recordings on iPhone? Fix Here!

Many a user is apt to free download HEVC movies on iPhone 8/7/6s and directly play HEVC on iPhone with the greatest convenience possible. Yet, the majority of HEVC movie resources originate from DVDRip, HD camcorder, web HDRip or BrRip. So the HEVC movie files come with different movie quality, resolution, bit rate, frame rate, etc., which, to great extent, make it tricky to smooth play HEVC movies on iPhone. On top of downloaded HEVC movies, some HEVC video recorded by your iPhone camera might also encounter playback issue if you record HEVC video with some improper operations.

When the problem of HEVC not playing on iPhone appears, the effective solution you can try is to switch to another HEVC video player. CnX Player and H265 are the top two choices for your reference.

CnX Player
License: Free
File Size: 30.5 MB
Compatibility: iOS 8 or higher

Overview: CnX Player is a HD video player application for iPhone iPad iPod, which allows you to play almost any video file, irrespective of standard video file MP4, MOV, AVI, FLV, or HD file MKV, TS, MTS, etc. In short, it can handle whatever you feed to it.

Main Features of this iPhone HEVC Player:
1. Play HEVC H265 video on iPhone, as well as 4K and HD video of H264, AVC and VP9.
2. Play MKV, MP4, 3GP, MOV, AVI, TS, FLV and other standard video formats.
3. Support audio playback of AAC, MP3, MP2, MP1 and OGG Vorbis.
4. Let you rename, delete, move and copy HEVC files with video management features.

H265
License: Free
File Size: 25.4 MB
Compatibility: iOS 6 or later

Overview: As its name suggests, H265 is a High Efficiency Video Coding player app designed for you to play HEVC/H.265 video files and network streams in the MKV format on iPhone iPad iPod. In addition, this HEVC video player also enables you to stream HEVC video files from the network and watch HEVC content offline. H265 compared with H264, it will help you save up to 50% network bandwidth for HEVC movie streaming.

Main Features of H265 Video Player:
1. Play HEVC H265 movie on iPhone iPad after downloading HEVC mobile movie.
2. Other video format playback also supported, like MP4, MOV, M4V, AVI, etc.
3. Play Video Stream feature allows users to stream video from network or add video via iTunes file sharing and watch them on iPhone offline.

Have a try the aforementioned solutions if you can't play HEVC on iPhone 8/Plus/7/6s/SE/6/5s. If they don't work, converting HEVC H265 to H264 is the ultimate solution. Admit it or not, H264 has been existing for a long time and most devices, platforms and players are compatible well with H264. Comparatively, HEVC is much younger and still has a long way to go. So when you fail to play HEVC video on iPhone 8/Plus/7 iOS 11 device, don't feel frustrated. After all, it has just started. When it becomes more mature, you will find what you are struggling today will be easily resolved.

MacX HEVC Video Converter - Make HEVC/H265 Playable on iPhone

iTunes still not accept HEVC? Use MacX HEVC Video Converter to convert HEVC to H264 iTunes and iPhone supported format. Thus, you can play HEVC on iPhone 8/7/Plus/6s/SE A9+ iDevice, but also on iPhone 6/Plus/5s A9 lower devices based on iOS 11 operating system.