What HEIC to JPG does
HEIC is the format iPhones and recent iPads use for photos by default. It stores pictures at about half the size of JPG at the same quality — but Windows, many Android apps, older Macs, most websites and nearly all upload forms cannot open it. This converter decodes a HEIC file in your browser using the heic2any library and saves it as a standard JPG at the quality you choose. The photo never leaves your device.
Why iPhones use HEIC
HEIC is a container (HEIF, High Efficiency Image File Format) holding an image compressed with HEVC, the same codec as H.265 video. HEVC compresses far better than the 1992-era JPEG algorithm and supports 16-bit colour, transparency, depth maps and Live Photos in a single file. Apple adopted it in iOS 11 (2017) to halve the storage taken by photos. The trade-off is compatibility: HEVC is patent-encumbered, so free software and Windows need separately licensed decoders, and many never got them.
| HEIC | JPG | |
|---|---|---|
| File size at equal quality | ≈ 50% | 100% |
| Colour depth | Up to 16-bit | 8-bit |
| Transparency | Yes | No |
| Opens on Windows without extras | No (needs HEVC extension) | Yes |
| Accepted by web upload forms | Rarely | Always |
| Supported by browsers | Safari only | All |
Choosing the quality
The quality field (0.1–1.0) controls the JPEG encoder. HEIC photos are already lossy, so there is nothing to gain above 0.92; 0.9 is a good default that produces files close to the HEIC in size while looking identical. Use 0.8 when sharing many photos by email or chat; use 0.95 or higher only for images that will be edited or printed large.
Stopping the problem at the source
If you regularly need JPGs, you can make the iPhone produce them:
- Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible makes the camera shoot JPG (and H.264 video) from then on. Existing HEIC photos are unchanged.
- Settings → Photos → Transfer to Mac or PC → Automatic converts HEIC to JPG when copying over a cable, without changing what is stored on the phone.
- Sharing from the Photos app to Mail, Messages or most apps converts to JPG automatically; AirDrop and Files keep the HEIC.
What is kept and what is lost
- Kept: the full-resolution image, correct orientation, and colours converted to sRGB.
- Lost: the Live Photo video, depth map, and any transparency; EXIF metadata including GPS is stripped by the conversion. If you need the metadata, convert on a Mac with Preview or use a desktop tool that copies EXIF.
- Wide colour: iPhone photos use Display P3. Highly saturated reds and greens are mapped into sRGB and may look marginally less vivid — the same thing every non-Apple viewer does.
Common uses
- Uploading phone photos to websites, job applications, insurance claims and marketplaces that only accept JPG.
- Sending photos to Windows users who see a blank thumbnail.
- Inserting photos into Word, PowerPoint or Google Docs.
- Printing at a kiosk or online service that rejects HEIC.
- Opening iPhone photos in older editing software.