The image heating apparatus includes a cylindrical film, a heating member,
and a drive roller, wherein a recording material bearing an image is
heated while the recording material is bound and conveyed by the nip
portion, and a distance between a contact position between the film and
the recording material and a contact position which the film and the
drive roller is equal to or less than 3.5 mm over a longitudinal
direction of the nip portion, and a line formed by connecting positions
at which said film is separated in the longitudinal direction of the nip
portion from the recording material in the conveyance direction has an
arc shape. Thus a heating process can be executed while suppressing
creases in the recording material and a density loss in the image formed
on the recording material.