diff --git a/INSTALL.md b/INSTALL.md
index f9cccf9ab1..a78ad13cc2 100644
--- a/INSTALL.md
+++ b/INSTALL.md
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ NEW or CHANGED MINIMUM dependencies since the last major release are **bold**.
      * giflib >= 4.1 (tested through 5.2; 5.0+ is strongly recommended for
        stability and thread safety)
  * If you want support for HEIF/HEIC or AVIF images:
-     * libheif >= 1.3 (1.7 required for AVIF support, tested through 1.15)
+     * libheif >= 1.3 (1.7 required for AVIF support, tested through 1.16)
      * libheif must be built with an AV1 encoder/decoder for AVIF support.
      * Avoid libheif 1.10 on Mac, it is very broken. Libheif 1.11+ is fine.
  * If you want support for DICOM medical image files:
diff --git a/src/build-scripts/gh-installdeps.bash b/src/build-scripts/gh-installdeps.bash
index 9be2faaeb5..fddb0f44a8 100755
--- a/src/build-scripts/gh-installdeps.bash
+++ b/src/build-scripts/gh-installdeps.bash
@@ -97,7 +97,9 @@ else
     if [[ "$USE_LIBHEIF" != "0" ]] ; then
        sudo add-apt-repository ppa:strukturag/libde265 || true
        sudo add-apt-repository ppa:strukturag/libheif || true
-       time sudo apt-get -q install -y libheif-dev || true
+       time sudo apt-get -q install -y libheif-plugin-aomdec \
+            libheif-plugin-aomenc libheif-plugin-libde265 \
+            libheif-plugin-x265 libheif-dev || true
     fi
 
     export CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu:$CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH
diff --git a/src/heif.imageio/heifinput.cpp b/src/heif.imageio/heifinput.cpp
index d64d519e62..4db4807463 100644
--- a/src/heif.imageio/heifinput.cpp
+++ b/src/heif.imageio/heifinput.cpp
@@ -59,6 +59,17 @@ class HeifInput final : public ImageInput {
 
 
 
+void
+oiio_heif_init()
+{
+#if LIBHEIF_HAVE_VERSION(1, 6, 0)
+    static std::once_flag flag;
+    std::call_once(flag, []() { heif_init(nullptr); });
+#endif
+}
+
+
+
 // Export version number and create function symbols
 OIIO_PLUGIN_EXPORTS_BEGIN
 
@@ -73,6 +84,7 @@ heif_imageio_library_version()
 OIIO_EXPORT ImageInput*
 heif_input_imageio_create()
 {
+    oiio_heif_init();
     return new HeifInput;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/heif.imageio/heifoutput.cpp b/src/heif.imageio/heifoutput.cpp
index 430b84792d..04736e87b6 100644
--- a/src/heif.imageio/heifoutput.cpp
+++ b/src/heif.imageio/heifoutput.cpp
@@ -70,11 +70,14 @@ class MyHeifWriter final : public heif::Context::Writer {
 }  // namespace
 
 
+
 OIIO_PLUGIN_EXPORTS_BEGIN
 
 OIIO_EXPORT ImageOutput*
 heif_output_imageio_create()
 {
+    extern void oiio_heif_init();
+    oiio_heif_init();
     return new HeifOutput;
 }