How to convert HEIC to JPG

The short answer

HEIC is the photo format iPhones and iPads use by default. JPG is the format nearly everything else expects. Converting means decoding the HEIC picture and encoding it again as JPG, which takes about a second per photo.

The quickest way that works on every device is the converter below: drop your HEIC photos, leave Convert to on JPG, keep Quality at 90 and download the files one by one or with Download all as ZIP. The photos are decoded inside your browser, so personal pictures, ID scans and receipts never leave your phone or computer.

Why iPhones save photos as HEIC

Apple switched to HEIC (High Efficiency Image Container, the HEIF format with HEVC compression) with iOS 11 in 2017, for the iPhone 7 and later. The reason is space: a HEIC photo is typically about half the size of a JPG of similar visual quality, so the same storage holds roughly twice as many pictures.

HEIC can also store things JPG cannot, such as 10 bit color, depth data for Portrait mode and several images in one file. Inside Apple's world this works well. The trouble starts when the photo leaves it: older versions of Windows, many web shops, marketplaces, job portals and government forms either cannot open HEIC or reject it at upload.

• HEIC: smaller files, better color depth, limited support outside Apple devices.
• JPG: larger files, 8 bit color, opens on every phone, computer, browser and upload form.
• A Live Photo is a HEIC still plus a short MOV video. Converting gives you the still image only.

Convert HEIC to JPG on each device

iPhone and iPad: open this page in Safari, tap the drop area, choose Photo Library and select your pictures. They are converted on the phone and you can save the JPG files to Files or share them. Another built-in route: when you send photos by Mail or to many apps, iOS usually converts them to JPG automatically.

Windows 10 and 11: the Photos app can open HEIC after you install the free HEIF Image Extensions from the Microsoft Store; some PCs also need the HEVC Video Extensions, which Microsoft sells for a small fee. Then open the photo, choose Save as and pick JPG. For a whole folder it is faster to drop all files into the converter above and download one ZIP.

Mac: open the photo in Preview, choose File > Export, set Format to JPEG and move the quality slider. To convert many photos, select them all in Preview's sidebar first. In the Photos app, File > Export > Export Photos also lets you pick JPEG.

Android: recent Android versions and Samsung phones can open HEIC in their gallery apps, but sharing them still causes problems. Use the converter in Chrome on the phone, or convert on the computer after copying the files.

Make your iPhone shoot JPG instead

If most of your photos end up on Windows PCs or upload forms, change the format at the source. Go to Settings > Camera > Formats and choose Most Compatible. New photos are then saved as JPG and videos as H.264. Existing photos are not changed, so convert those separately.

There is a middle way too: keep High Efficiency for the space savings and go to Settings > Photos > Transfer to Mac or PC and choose Automatic. When you copy photos to a computer with a cable, the iPhone hands them over as JPG. Keep Originals sends the HEIC files unchanged.

Note that some modes need HEIC: on recent iPhones, 48 megapixel photos and certain ProRAW or high resolution options are only available with High Efficiency selected.

Quality and file size: what to expect

A JPG made from a HEIC photo is larger than the original, because JPG compresses less efficiently. At quality 90 the result looks the same as the HEIC on screen and is usually 1.5 to 2 times its size. Lower quality gives smaller files with little visible difference down to about 75.

Converting does not bring back detail and does not lose much either, as long as you convert once from the original. Avoid converting JPG to HEIC and back again, since every lossy save removes a little more.

Common problems and fixes

• The photo shows up sideways after conversion in another tool: the orientation note was lost. The converter here turns the pixels the right way up automatically.
• An upload form says the file type is wrong even though it ends in .jpg: the file was renamed, not converted. Renaming does not change the format; convert it properly.
• Colors look slightly duller: HEIC photos are often in the wide Display P3 color space. Viewed on a standard screen the difference is small, and the JPG is made for the screens most people use.
• A HEIC file will not open at all: it may be damaged, or it may be an image sequence or burst that uses an unusual variant. Try exporting it again from the Photos app.
• The location and date are missing in the JPG: this converter does not copy the camera data. That is useful for privacy, but keep the originals if you rely on dates in your photo library.

Tips for converting many photos

Drop a whole folder at once; files are converted one after another and the list shows how much smaller or larger each one became. Find the smallest format tries the other formats with your own files and shows the total size, which helps when JPG is required only as a fallback.

If a site needs a maximum size, such as 1 MB or 200 KB, convert first and then use the image compressor with a target size. If the site also needs a specific width, resize before you compress.