About this tool
iPhones have shot photos in HEIC by default since iOS 11. It is a great format on Apple devices, but email one to a Windows user, upload it to a web form, or open it in an older editor and you get "unsupported file type". Converting to JPG fixes that in one step, and you can drop in a whole album at once.
About the formats: HEIC (High Efficiency Image Container) has been the default photo format on iPhones since iOS 11. It stores photos at roughly half the size of JPG at the same quality, but Windows, Android apps, and most websites will not accept it without conversion. JPG (JPEG) is a lossy format built for photographs. It compresses aggressively, produces small files, and opens on every device ever made, but it cannot store transparency and each re-save costs a little quality.
What happens to the photo along the way
Each photo is decoded at its full resolution and saved again as a JPG at the quality you set, 92 by default, which is high enough that the result is indistinguishable from the original on a screen. Nothing is cropped or scaled unless you ask for it elsewhere.
The photo's hidden details do not come along. A HEIC from an iPhone carries EXIF metadata: the date and time it was taken, the phone model and lens, and usually the GPS position. The JPG is drawn fresh from the pixels, so none of that is copied. That is a quiet privacy win when you are sending pictures to people, and something to know before you replace a photo library with converted copies, because apps that sort by the date a photo was taken will fall back to the date of the file instead. Keep the originals if the dates matter.
Why the JPG is bigger than the HEIC
HEIC compresses with the same technology as 4K video and fits a photo into roughly half the space JPG needs for the same quality. Converting cannot keep that advantage, so the JPG usually comes out noticeably larger, often around twice the size at the default setting. If size matters more than the last bit of quality, lower the quality slider to around 80: the difference is hard to see and the files shrink considerably.
Converting a whole camera roll
Select as many photos as you like at once; they are converted one after another on your own device, and the results can be downloaded together as a ZIP. How fast depends on your device and browser rather than your connection, since nothing waits on an upload. If you would rather stop getting HEIC files in the first place, the HEIC guide linked below explains the iPhone setting that switches the camera to JPG.
HEIC and JPG, side by side
| .heic in | .jpg out | |
|---|---|---|
| Compression | Lossy (HEVC) | Lossy |
| Transparency | Yes | No |
| Opens on | Apple; Windows with a paid codec | Everything |
Rows where the two differ are marked. The full story on each: HEIC files and JPG files.
How to use it
- Drop your HEIC or HEIF files into the box above, or click to browse. Nothing is uploaded.
- Adjust the options if you want; the defaults suit most files.
- Click Convert to JPG and wait a moment.
- Download the results individually or all at once as a ZIP.
Questions
Will I lose quality converting HEIC to JPG?
A little, because JPG is lossy, but at the default quality of 92 the difference is invisible. Photos come out at full resolution.
Why can't Windows open HEIC files?
Windows needs Microsoft's paid HEVC Video Extensions to decode HEIC, and many programs never support it. A JPG copy avoids the problem entirely.
What about Live Photos?
Only the still image is converted. The short video clip attached to a Live Photo is not part of the HEIC file.
Can I convert many HEIC photos at once?
Yes. Select or drag in as many files as you like; each is converted and you can download them all as a ZIP.
Is it free, are files uploaded, which browsers work: the general questions are answered once for the whole site.