Why iPhone Photos Are HEIC, and How to Convert Them to JPG
What HEIC is, why Windows and half the web refuse to open it, how to convert to JPG without losing quality, and how to stop your iPhone making it at all.
Updated August 11, 20265 min read
You email a photo from your iPhone, and the person on the other end says it will not open. You upload it to a job portal, and the form rejects it. The file ends in .HEIC, a format Apple switched to in 2017 that most of the rest of the computing world still treats as an unwelcome guest. Here is what it is, why it exists, and the fastest way to get a JPG when you need one.
What HEIC actually is
HEIC is a container holding images encoded with HEVC, the same compression used for 4K video. It is genuinely better technology than JPEG: roughly half the file size at comparable quality, support for more than JPEG's 8 bits per channel (though iPhones save 8-bit HEIC plus a separate map for HDR brightness), transparency, and the ability to hold several images in one file — which is how Live Photos and burst shots are stored as a single item.
Apple made it the default capture format on iOS 11 for a straightforward reason: it halves the storage a photo library consumes. On a 128GB phone that is thousands of extra pictures. The technology is not the problem.
Why it breaks everywhere else
HEVC is patent-encumbered. Decoding it requires licences, and those licences cost money per device or per browser. That is why support has been so uneven: Windows needs the free HEIF Image Extensions plus the HEVC Video Extensions (a $0.99 add-on in the Microsoft Store, preinstalled on some PCs), most browsers will not display HEIC in an <img> tag, and a long tail of upload forms, content management systems and print services simply reject the extension outright.
So you get the modern experience of a format that is technically superior and practically unusable outside its home ecosystem. Compare it with WebP, which offers similar gains royalty-free and is supported by every browser — a useful illustration of how much licensing matters to whether a format wins.
Converting HEIC to JPG
Drop the files in
Open the HEIC to JPG converter and add your photos. Free converts one photo at a time; Pro converts up to 100 in one go, so even a 200-shot holiday folder takes only two batches.
Pick a quality level
Because HEIC is already lossy, converting to JPG is a re-encode and some detail is lost. At 85–90% quality that loss is not visible; below about 70% it starts to show in skies and skin tones. Free exports up to 4096 px on the long side — enough for a 12 MP iPhone photo; full resolution for larger shots is a Pro feature.
Download the results
Files convert on your own device, so a large batch is limited by your computer rather than by an upload queue. Nothing is transmitted to a server at any point.
Expect the JPGs to be larger than the HEICs they came from — often around double. That is the price of the format's compatibility, and it is why the JPG compressor is worth a second pass if you are emailing the results or hitting an upload limit.
Convert iPhone photos on your device — one at a time free, or up to 100 at once with Pro. No upload, no watermark.
Convert HEIC to JPGStopping your iPhone making HEIC at all
If you regularly send photos to Windows machines, printing services or web forms, change the capture format once and stop dealing with this. On your iPhone: Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible. From then on the camera shoots JPEG and video in H.264.
The trade-off is real — your photos will take roughly twice the storage. For most people that is a fair swap for never seeing a "file type not supported" message again. There is also a middle setting worth knowing: Settings → Apps → Photos → Transfer to Mac or PC → Automatic (on iOS 17 and earlier, Settings → Photos) converts on the way out while keeping HEIC on the device.
What happens to your photo's metadata
HEIC files carry the full EXIF payload: GPS coordinates accurate to a few metres, the exact capture timestamp, the device model, and camera settings. Conversion to JPG normally preserves all of it, which is fine for a personal archive and considerably less fine when you are posting a photo of your home to a marketplace listing.
Before publishing anything publicly, check what is attached using the metadata viewer and strip the location fields if they are there. This matters more than most people assume — a handful of listing photos is often enough to pin down a home address.
Should you convert to something other than JPG?
| Target | When it is the right choice |
|---|---|
| JPG | Uploads, email, printing, anything that must simply work |
| WebP | Your own website — keeps most of HEIC's size advantage, works in every browser |
| AVIF | Photo-heavy sites where bandwidth matters and you control the delivery |
| PNG | Rarely — only if you need lossless editing; files will be very large |
For a website, choosing WebP as the output in the HEIC converter is the better move: you keep most of the size advantage that made HEIC attractive, and every browser can actually display the result. For AVIF, convert to PNG first and run that through the PNG to AVIF converter. Reserve JPG for the cases where something outside your control has to open the file.
One habit worth adopting either way: keep the HEIC originals. They are your highest-quality copies, and every conversion is a one-way loss. Convert copies for sharing and leave the library intact.
Frequently asked questions
Does converting HEIC to JPG lose quality?
Slightly — both formats are lossy, so re-encoding discards a little detail. At 85–90% JPG quality the difference is invisible in normal viewing. Keep the HEIC originals as your master copies and convert only the copies you need to share. One limit to know: free exports are capped at 4096 px on the long side, so 24 and 48 MP photos come out smaller; full resolution is a Pro feature.
Can Windows open HEIC files?
Windows 11 can display them in Photos once two add-ons are installed: the free HEIF Image Extensions and the HEVC Video Extensions, which cost $0.99 in the Microsoft Store unless your PC came with them. Many applications still cannot read HEIC even with both installed, which is why converting to JPG is usually the less frustrating path.
Why are my JPGs bigger than the HEIC originals?
HEIC uses much more efficient compression, so the same image typically doubles in size when converted to JPG. That is the cost of compatibility. Running the converted files through a JPG compressor recovers most of the difference.
Is it safe to convert HEIC photos online?
With our converter, yes — the files are decoded and re-encoded on your own device and never uploaded. That matters for phone photos in particular, since they carry GPS coordinates in their metadata.