Convert HEIC to JPG

HEIC — High Efficiency Image Container — stores an image encoded with HEVC, the same compression family as H.265 video. It reaches roughly the quality of a JPG in about half the file size, which is why Apple made it the default in iOS 11: twice as many photos in the same storage.

The trade-off is compatibility. JPG has been universally supported since the 1990s. HEIC is patent-encumbered, licensing is complicated, and Windows, Android, older software and many websites either need an add-on or simply refuse the file.

You can stop your iPhone producing HEIC at all: Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible makes it shoot JPG from then on. That does not change the photos you have already taken, which is what this converter is for.

Windows: Windows 11 and recent Windows 10 builds can display HEIC after installing Microsoft's HEIF Image Extensions, but that add-on only lets you view the file — it does not convert anything, and it is a paid item in some regions. Opening this page in Edge or Chrome converts the photo without installing anything.

How to convert HEIC to JPG on Mac: Preview can export a HEIC as JPEG with File → Export, and Photos can export a copy. Both are fine for one or two photos. A browser tab is quicker for a handful, and works the same on a Mac that is not signed in to iCloud.

iPhone and iPad: sharing a photo by email or into most apps already converts it to JPG silently, which is why people rarely meet HEIC until a file is copied off the device. To get a JPG on purpose, open this page in Safari and choose the photo from your library.

Android: Android has been able to decode HEIF since Android 10, but plenty of apps and upload forms still reject it. Chrome on Android converts it here the same way.

For the apps already built into each system, with every menu and setting named, follow our HEIC to JPG guide.

Dimensions are unchanged: a 4032 × 3024 HEIC comes out a 4032 × 3024 JPG. The image is re-encoded as JPG at a high quality setting, so it is visually the same photo.

Expect the JPG to be larger than the HEIC, often around twice the size. That is the price of HEIC's efficiency rather than a fault in the conversion — if the size matters, compress the JPG afterwards.

EXIF metadata is not carried over. Camera, lens, date and GPS coordinates are dropped: inconvenient if you rely on them, useful before sharing a photo publicly. Your original HEIC still has them.

A Live Photo is a HEIC still plus a separate short video. Converting the HEIC gives you the still picture; the movement lives in the video file, which this page does not convert.

Portrait mode photos carry a depth map inside the HEIC, which lets the Photos app change the background blur later. The JPG keeps the picture as it looks now, blur included, and leaves the depth map behind, so make any blur changes on the iPhone first.

Some Android phones, Samsung Galaxy models among them, have a camera setting to save pictures as HEIF. Those files convert here in exactly the same way.