How to Convert HEIC to JPG (and Why iPhone Photos Use HEIC)
You AirDrop or email a photo from an iPhone, and the form, the printer kiosk or the Windows laptop on the other end says the file isn't supported. The photo is fine. It is just in HEIC, a format that is excellent at its job and awkward everywhere outside Apple's ecosystem.
What HEIC actually is
HEIF (High Efficiency Image File Format) is a container standardised by MPEG. HEIC is the common case: a HEIF file whose image is compressed with HEVC, the same codec used for H.265 video. Apple made it the iPhone camera default with iOS 11 in 2017.
The reason is size. At similar visual quality, a HEIC photo is typically around half the size of the equivalent JPG, and the container can hold things JPG cannot: 16-bit colour, depth maps for Portrait mode, HDR gain maps, image sequences for Live Photos and bursts.
Why so many places reject it
HEVC is covered by patents with licensing pools, so many vendors leave decoding out or make it optional. The practical picture at the time of writing:
| Where | Opens HEIC? |
|---|---|
| iPhone, iPad, Mac | Yes, natively. |
| Safari (recent macOS and iOS) | Yes — it can display HEIC images in web pages. |
| Windows 10 / 11 | Only with the HEIF and HEVC Video extensions from the Microsoft Store; HEVC is not always free or preinstalled. |
| Android | Recent versions can open HEIC; older phones and many apps cannot. |
| Chrome, Firefox, Edge | Not as a web image. Upload forms that preview your photo usually fail. |
| Websites and online forms | Often reject it outright and accept only JPG or PNG. |
Option 1: let the iPhone convert for you
Shoot JPG from now on
Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible. New photos are saved as JPG. Existing photos stay HEIC, and files get bigger.
Convert on transfer to a computer
Settings → Photos → Transfer to Mac or PC → Automatic. Photos copied over USB arrive as JPG; the originals on the phone are untouched.
Share differently
Many share paths convert automatically — attaching to Mail, or picking a photo in a web upload form in Safari, often hands over a JPG. It depends on the app, so check the file extension that arrives.
"Most Compatible" is a fair choice if you mostly share photos with non-Apple devices. If storage matters more, keep HEIC and convert only what you need to send.
Option 2: convert files you already have
- On a Mac: open the photo in Preview, then File → Export and choose JPEG or PNG. For many files, select them all in Finder, right-click → Quick Actions → Convert Image.
- On Windows: with the HEIF/HEVC extensions installed, open the photo in Photos and use Save as. Without them, Windows cannot read the file at all.
- In any browser: the HEIC to JPG converter decodes the photo on your device and saves JPG, PNG or WebP, one at a time or as a ZIP. Safari uses its built-in decoder; other browsers download a decoder once and run it locally. Nothing is uploaded.
- On the command line: with ImageMagick built with HEIC support,
magick photo.heic -quality 90 photo.jpg. On a Mac, the built-insips -s format jpeg photo.heic --out photo.jpgdoes the same.
JPG, PNG or WebP?
| Format | Choose it when |
|---|---|
| JPG | Almost always. Every device, form and printer accepts it. Quality 85–92 is visually indistinguishable from the HEIC for photos. |
| PNG | You will edit the image further and want no extra compression loss, or it is a screenshot with text. Expect files several times larger than JPG for photos. |
| WebP | The photo is going on a website. Smaller than JPG at the same quality and supported by every current browser — but not by every upload form. |
"JPG" and "JPEG" are the same format; the shorter extension dates from old Windows three-letter limits. If a form insists on one spelling, rename the file — no conversion needed.
What you lose in the conversion
- Live Photo motion — only the still frame converts.
- Depth and HDR data — Portrait-mode depth maps and HDR gain maps do not carry into a plain JPG, so the photo may look a little flatter on HDR screens.
- Metadata, depending on the tool. Browser-based converters, including ours, write a fresh file without EXIF — no GPS location, no camera details, no date taken. That is good for privacy and bad if you are archiving. Desktop tools such as Preview and ImageMagick keep it.
- Some size. The JPG will usually be larger than the HEIC. If that matters, run it through an image compressor afterwards.
Convert iPhone photos to JPG or PNG — no upload