Heavy metal fluoride glasses (HMFG) are potentially useful as optical components in a wide range of devices. Their utilization has so far been delayed mainly because of insufficient material purity and inadequate processing conditions. However, as the result of numerous research efforts, these problems are gradually diminishing, and it now seems likely that the ultimate limitations for use of HMFG components, at least in those applications in which high optical transparency is not a prerequisite, will be imposed by more intrinsic instabilities of the glasses themselves. These include their strong tendency to crystallize on quenching and subsequent reheating, low mechanical and chemical durability, and the possibility that they will undergo significant physical aging in situ. Experimental data relating to these problems have now been obtained, and their relative importance is assessed in this paper.