An image heating apparatus including: a pressure member; a fixing roller to rotate on the pressure member; a heater to heat an external surface of the fixing roller; and a film to be heated by the heater. While passing through a gap between the pressure member and the fixing roller, the film may form a nip with the pressure member. The image heating apparatus may reduce an initial warm-up time through a film heating operation, and may utilize the fixing roller as a heat reservoir by heating the fixing roller.