HEIC to JPG
Open an iPhone photo almost anywhere.
The photo stays on your device
How it works
- Choose a HEIC or HEIF photo.
- Set the JPG quality.
- Convert and download the JPG.
HEIC and JPG, briefly
HEIC (you will also see it written HEIF) is the photo format iPhones and iPads have saved by default since iOS 11 in 2017. It uses newer compression — the same family as HEVC video — to keep a photo at close to JPG quality in a noticeably smaller file. Apple's reason for the switch was storage.
The catch is support. Outside Apple's own apps it is hit-and-miss: Windows only previews HEIC once you install a codec from the Microsoft Store, plenty of sites reject it on upload, and older editors just show an error. JPG has none of those problems — it opens on essentially everything, which is why converting is usually the fastest fix.
When you pick a file here, it is decoded and re-saved as a JPG inside this browser tab. The photo is not uploaded, so the tool works offline and your images stay on your device.
JPG, PNG, or WebP?
Which output you want depends on where the photo is going:
- JPG — the safe default for a photo you want to share, upload, or open anywhere.
- PNG — only worth it when you need a lossless copy or transparency, which is rare for a phone photo and produces a much larger file. Use HEIC to PNG for that.
- WebP — a smaller file than JPG at similar quality, best when the destination is the web. Support is broad now, though a few older tools still cannot read it. Try HEIC to WebP.
| Format | Type | Transparency | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| HEIC | Lossy, high efficiency | Yes | Saving space on Apple devices |
| JPG | Lossy | No | Sharing photos anywhere |
| PNG | Lossless | Yes | Graphics, screenshots, transparency |
| WebP | Lossy or lossless | Yes | Smaller images for the web |
Keeping quality and size sensible
JPG is lossy, so saving one drops a little detail. Converting once from the HEIC original is fine — at high quality the difference is hard to see. What you want to avoid is re-saving the same JPG over and over.
A converted JPG can actually be larger than the HEIC it came from, because HEIC compresses harder. If size matters, run the result through the image compressor, or convert to WebP instead.
Questions
- What is a HEIC file?
- HEIC is the high-efficiency image format iPhones use by default. It stores a photo at good quality in a small file, but many apps and websites cannot open it, which is why converting to JPG helps.
- Why won't my HEIC file open on Windows?
- Windows can only preview HEIC after you install the HEIF Image Extensions codec from the Microsoft Store, and many apps do not support it at all. Converting to JPG means you no longer need the codec.
- Is HEIC the same as HEIF?
- In practice, yes. HEIF is the container format; HEIC is the name for HEIF files that use HEVC compression, which is what iPhones save. You may see either a .heic or .heif extension.
- Do I lose quality converting HEIC to JPG?
- JPG is a lossy format, so there is a small quality trade-off. Keeping the quality near the default preserves detail while producing a widely compatible file.
- Is my photo uploaded to convert it?
- No. The HEIC photo is decoded and converted inside your browser, so it never leaves your device.
- Can I convert several photos at once?
- The tool works on one photo at a time. Convert the first, then load the next — each stays on your device.