How to convert HEIC to JPG
Your iPhone saves photos as HEIC. Windows, Android and most websites would rather it did not. Here is the fix, and how to stop the problem recurring.
Convert it
- Open the converter and go to the "Convert a file" tab.
- Add your
.heicfiles — you can select a whole batch at once. - JPEG image is already selected as the output.
- Click Convert, or "Convert everything" for a batch, which downloads them together as a zip.
This works in Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Safari on any operating system. The photos are decoded on your own device and never uploaded, which matters more than usual here — holiday photos and pictures of documents are exactly the sort of thing worth not handing to a random website.
Why HEIC exists, and why it is annoying
HEIC is Apple's name for a HEIF container holding HEVC-compressed images. It genuinely is better technology than JPEG: roughly half the file size at similar quality, support for 16-bit colour, transparency and image sequences like Live Photos. Apple switched to it by default in iOS 11, back in 2017.
The problem is not the format, it is the licensing. HEVC carries patent royalties, so browser makers and operating system vendors outside Apple have been slow to include decoders. Chrome, Firefox and Edge cannot display a HEIC file natively even in 2026. Windows can, but only after you install a codec from the Microsoft Store, which has at times cost money. So a format that is technically superior is practically a nuisance the moment a photo leaves the Apple ecosystem.
This site works around that by decoding HEIC in JavaScript rather than relying on the browser, which is why it works in Chrome on Windows where the browser itself cannot open the file.
JPG or PNG?
Choose JPEG for photographs. It is what the picture would have been anyway, it is universally supported, and the file stays small.
Choose PNG only if you need lossless output — for example if the image is a screenshot, contains text, or is going to be edited repeatedly. PNG files of photographs are often five to ten times larger than the JPEG equivalent for no visible gain.
Expect the file to get bigger
A 2 MB HEIC will usually come out as a 3 to 4 MB JPEG at high quality. That is not a fault in the conversion — it is the compression advantage of HEIC being given up. If size matters, lower the quality setting to High or Medium under "Image and page settings", or set a maximum width to scale the photo down.
Stopping your iPhone from making HEICs
If you would rather not convert anything ever again:
- Open Settings on the iPhone.
- Go to Camera, then Formats.
- Choose Most Compatible instead of High Efficiency.
New photos will be saved as JPEG. Existing ones stay HEIC. There is a second, separate setting under Settings → Photos → Transfer to Mac or PC, where choosing Automatic converts photos to JPEG as they are copied off the phone.
What about Live Photos?
A Live Photo is a still image plus a short video. Converting it here produces the still frame, which is what almost everyone wants. The motion component is not preserved, because JPEG and PNG have no way to hold it.
Batch conversion
Add as many photos as you like and use "Convert everything" — the results arrive as a single zip. Conversion happens in your device's memory, so a very large batch of high-resolution photos can be slow on an older phone. If it struggles, do them fifty at a time.