Introduction

The Discussions API now returns attachments in heic and heif formats when retrieving discussions and messages. This is a retrieval-only change — upload of these formats is not yet supported and will be introduced in a future release.

What changed?

A new enum, Enums.Attachments.RetrievalFileType, has been introduced alongside the existing Enums.Attachments.FileType. It is a superset of the upload enum and is now used as the fileFormat type in the Discussion, AttachmentLight, and SearchAttachments models.

The two new values it adds are:

• heic — High Efficiency Image Container, Apple’s default photo format on recent iOS devices
• heif — High Efficiency Image File Format, the broader standard heic is based on

The original Enums.Attachments.FileType (used when posting a discussion or sending a message) is unchanged.

Scope: heic and heif attachments are currently returned only for the Cdiscount sales channel (CDISFR). Support will be extended to other sales channels in a later release.

Example

When calling GET /discussions or retrieving messages, the fileFormat field of an attachment may now return heic or heif:

{
  "name": "photo.heic",
  "fileFormat": "heic"
}

Integrations that validate or switch on fileFormat values must be updated to handle these two new cases, otherwise unexpected format values may cause parsing errors.

Note for Windows users: heic and heif files are not opened natively by older Windows versions. If you cannot open a retrieved attachment in this format, you can install the free HEIF Image Extensions from the Microsoft Store, convert the file to jpeg or png client-side, or use an image viewer that supports HEIF natively.

Why it matters

Customers on recent iOS devices send photos in heic format by default. Without this support, those attachments could not be retrieved through the API, creating gaps in conversation history. This update ensures sellers can now access the full content of customer messages regardless of the attachment format used.

Upload support for heic and heif is planned for a future release — at which point both enums will be realigned.