Convert HEIC to JPG
Make iPhone photos open everywhere.
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How it works
Add your images
Drag and drop, paste, or pick files. They upload over an encrypted connection.
Pick a quality or a target size
Use the quality slider, or tell it exactly how many KB or MB you need.
Download
Save each file, or grab them all at once as a ZIP.
HEIC is the format iPhones and iPads have saved photos in since 2017. It keeps files small, but Windows without an extra codec, many websites, older Android phones and most upload forms still refuse it. JPG is the format they all accept, so converting is usually the quickest way to send or upload a photo that would otherwise be rejected.
Add one photo or a whole batch and each comes back as a JPG. The rotation stored in the HEIC is applied, so portraits stay upright. The page starts at quality 85, where the difference from the original is hard to see at normal size; the JPG will usually be somewhat larger than the HEIC, because HEIC compresses more efficiently.
A Live Photo is converted as its still picture. Location and other metadata are always removed from a HEIC, because the photo is opened by your browser before it is sent. If you would rather not convert at all, an iPhone can save JPG directly: Settings, Camera, Formats, Most Compatible. The opened photo reaches us over an encrypted connection, is converted on our own servers and is deleted within one hour.
What a HEIC file is
HEIC is Apple's name for a picture stored in the HEIF container and compressed with HEVC, the codec also known as H.265 and used for 4K video. Apple made it the default on the iPhone with iOS 11 in 2017 because it stores a photo in roughly half the space of a JPEG of the same quality, which matters on a phone holding ten thousand pictures. The container can also carry things a JPEG cannot: ten bits of colour instead of eight, a depth map for portrait effects, and bursts of several frames in one file.
Why so much software still refuses it
The reason is licensing more than technology. HEVC is covered by patents held by several groups, and anyone who ships a decoder may owe fees. Apple pays them. The makers of Chrome and Firefox chose not to, so those browsers cannot display a HEIC at all. Windows can, once two extensions from the Microsoft Store are installed, and one of them has usually cost money. Websites that accept uploads mostly allow only what every browser can show, which again means JPG and PNG.
JPEG has no such problem. Its patents ran out long ago and every device made in the last thirty years reads it.
What is kept and what is left behind
The picture and its orientation come through complete, at the full pixel size. Colours recorded in the iPhone's wide Display P3 range are converted to standard sRGB, so the JPG looks right in programs that ignore colour profiles. The extras stay behind. Depth information for portrait mode, the extra brightness layer of HDR photos from recent iPhones and the video half of a Live Photo have no place in a JPEG. A photo that glowed on the iPhone's own screen will look like an ordinary well-exposed picture afterwards, which is what every other screen would have shown anyway.
Frequently asked questions
Why can't I open HEIC files on Windows?
Windows needs a separate codec for HEIC, and many programs and websites never added support. JPG works without anything extra.
Will the JPG look worse than the HEIC?
At the default quality the difference is hard to see at normal viewing size. JPEG is lossy, so heavy zoom can show small changes.
Can I convert several HEIC photos at once?
Yes. Add them together and download the results one by one or as a ZIP.
Is the location of my photo kept?
No. A HEIC photo is opened by your browser before it is sent, and that step leaves the GPS position and all other metadata behind.
Do Android phones produce HEIC as well?
Some do. Samsung and a few other makers offer a high-efficiency photo option that saves HEIC or HEIF. Chrome on Android cannot open those files, so convert them in Safari on a Mac, or switch the phone's camera back to JPG.
Why did my photos arrive as JPG when I emailed them from the iPhone?
iOS converts photos to JPEG by itself in some situations, for example in Mail and when the transfer setting for a Mac or PC is on Automatic. Files copied directly, through AirDrop, a cable or a cloud drive, usually stay HEIC.
Which browsers can convert HEIC here?
Safari on a Mac, and any browser on an iPhone or iPad. Those open HEIC with Apple's own decoder, and the page sends us the picture it produces. Chrome, Firefox and Edge on Windows, Linux and Android have no HEIC decoder, and our servers do not decode HEIC either, because the HEVC inside it is patented. There the page tells you at once.