An iPhone records video using HEVC or H.264, and on Pro models it can also record ProRes and ProRes RAW. That is the answer Apple gives on its own tech spec pages — and notice what it is an answer about. Every one of those names is a codec, not a file type.
Which is why the question people actually type — "is it MOV or MP4?" — is a different question from the one Apple answers. Here is what the official pages say, and what to do when the file lands somewhere that refuses to open it.
What the spec sheet literally says
The iPhone 17 Pro tech specs end the Video Recording section with this line:
"Video formats recorded: HEVC, H.264, ProRes, and ProRes RAW"
The iPhone 17 page — the non-Pro model, same generation — ends the same section with a shorter list:
"Video formats recorded: HEVC and H.264"
Two things fall straight out of that pair:
- ProRes is a Pro-model capability. The non-Pro spec line does not include it. The same split shows up on the stills row: the Pro page says "Image formats captured: HEIF, JPEG, and DNG", the non-Pro page says "Image formats captured: HEIF and JPEG".
- Recording and playback are separate lists. Under Video Playback, the iPhone 17 Pro page says "Supported formats include HEVC, H.264, AV1, and ProRes". AV1 appears there and not on the recording line, so an iPhone that plays an AV1 file is not an iPhone that records one.
Codec versus container — and why Apple's answer stops short
A video file has two layers. The codec is how the picture is compressed: HEVC (Apple's pages also call it H.265), H.264, ProRes. The container is the wrapper those frames are stored in, and it is what your file extension advertises: .mov, .mp4, .mkv.
Across the Apple pages cited at the end of this article, the recording format is described purely at the codec layer. Two containers do get named elsewhere, and neither settles the question:
- The share sheet documentation says that with one option chosen, "files may convert to JPEG or MOV" — that is a statement about a conversion on the way out, not about what the camera wrote.
- The iCloud Photos page lists the formats iCloud stores in their original state as "(HEIF, JPEG, RAW, PNG, GIF, TIFF, HEVC, and MP4)" — that is a list of what the service preserves, not a claim about camera output.
So if you need the container for a technical reason — a service with a strict whitelist, a pipeline that keys off extension — read it off a file you exported yourself, and check the official documentation rather than a forum answer. What Apple does pin down is the codec, and the codec is the part you control.
The setting that decides your codec
The choice lives in Settings > Camera > Formats, and Apple describes both sides of it explicitly. On the High Efficiency side: "HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding), also known as H.265, for videos", and "HEIF and HEVC offer better compression than JPEG and H.264, so they use less storage space on your devices and iCloud Photos, while preserving the same visual quality."
On the other side, Apple writes: "Though capturing in HEIF and HEVC format is recommended, you can set iPhone or iPad to capture media using the older formats, which are more broadly compatible with other devices and operating systems." The step is "Tap Formats, then tap Most Compatible", with one condition attached verbatim: "This setting is available only on iPhone and iPad devices that can capture media in HEIF or HEVC format." The result: "All new photos and videos will now use JPEG or H.264 format."
| Setting | Photos | Video |
|---|---|---|
| High Efficiency | HEIF | HEVC (H.265) |
| Most Compatible | JPEG | H.264 |
Apple's Windows transfer page states the same outcome in one sentence: "From now on, your camera will capture photos and videos in JPEG and H.264 formats." Note the tense — this setting applies to new recordings only. Footage already on the phone stays in whatever it was captured as.
The trap: two different things are called "Most Compatible"
There is a second "Most Compatible" in the share sheet, and it does something else. Apple's wording there: "Adjust the file format: Tap Automatic for the best file format for the destination, tap Current to prevent a file format conversion, or tap Most Compatible and files may convert to JPEG or MOV."
One is a capture setting that changes what the camera writes from now on. The other is an export setting applied to a file you are sending right now — and it is the one place where Current is documented as the switch that prevents conversion. Mixing them up is the single most common mistake in write-ups of this topic.
When the file won't open on the other end
If a recipient can't play your clip, the codec is the usual suspect, and Apple gives a concrete boundary rather than a vague warning: "On some older devices, support for HEVC is affected by the resolution and frame rate (fps) of the video. Resolutions of 1080p or lower and frame rates of 60 fps or lower are more broadly compatible with older devices."
Sharing may also change the file without you asking. Apple says that over iCloud Photos, "the media is preserved in its original format, resolution, and frame rate", but for other routes: "If sharing this media using other methods, such as AirDrop, Messages, or email, and the receiving device doesn't support the newer media formats, the media might automatically be shared in a more compatible format, such as JPEG or H.264." That is might, conditional on the receiving device — not something to plan around.
The dependable move is to convert the file yourself first:
Try it right here
Runs in your browser. Your file is not uploaded anywhere.
This runs inside your browser tab: the file is read from disk, re-encoded locally, and handed back. Nothing is uploaded. The same job is at MOV to MP4 if you'd rather start from the tool page, and the rest are under all Clapr tools.
On a Mac, Apple documents a native route: open the video in QuickTime Player, choose File then Export As, and "use the pop-up menu to change from Smaller File Size (HEVC) to Greater Compatibility (H.264) before you click Save."
Copying over USB has its own behaviour: "When you import HEIF or HEVC media from an attached iPhone or iPad into Photos, Image Capture, or a PC, the media might be converted to JPEG or H.264. If you don't want it to be converted, open Settings, tap Apps, tap Photos, then scroll down and tap Keep Originals." People regularly conclude their iPhone records H.264 because that is what arrived on the PC — the import step may have done it.
ProRes, the third recording format
On supported Pro models, ProRes is a separate switch with its own rules. Apple's requirement line reads: "To use Apple ProRes, you need iOS 15.1 or later and one of these iPhone models", followed by a model list. Budget accordingly, because "ProRes files are up to 30 times larger than HEVC files" — up to, not always — and "To record in ProRes, you need at least 10 percent of your device's storage to be free."
Turning it off returns you to the setting above: "If you turn ProRes off in the Camera app, the video format defaults to either High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) or Most Compatible (H.264)." And if the software at the other end can't cope, Apple notes that "Apps might transcode a ProRes video to a smaller H.264 format if ProRes isn't supported."
FAQ
Does an iPhone record MOV or MP4? Apple's recording spec line answers in codecs — "HEVC, H.264, ProRes, and ProRes RAW" on iPhone 17 Pro — not in containers. MOV appears in the share sheet documentation and MP4 in the iCloud Photos format list, but neither line is about camera output. Check the file you exported, or the official documentation, before building anything on the extension.
Is my iPhone video H.264 or HEVC?
Whichever Settings > Camera > Formats is on. High Efficiency records HEVC; Most Compatible records H.264, and Apple notes that option only appears on devices able to capture HEIF or HEVC in the first place.
Does an iPhone record AV1? AV1 is listed under Video Playback on the iPhone 17 Pro specs, and the Video Recording line on the same page lists HEVC, H.264, ProRes, and ProRes RAW. Playback support and recording support are different rows.
Will switching to Most Compatible cost me any camera modes? Apple's format pages describe the change only as capturing "in JPEG and H.264 formats" and say nothing further about mode availability — check the official documentation for your model rather than assuming. For related format headaches, see when Google Drive won't play an HEVC file.
Why did my clip get smaller and blurrier after I sent it? Sharing routes other than iCloud Photos "might" be converted to a more compatible format when the receiving device doesn't support the newer one. Convert deliberately on your side first, and you know exactly what the recipient gets.
Quotes are from Apple's iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 tech specs, the HEIF and HEVC support article, the ProRes article, and the iPhone User Guide, checked 16 September 2026. More format walk-throughs are in the guides hub.
