Convert HEIC to JPG
This is the conversion that happens after a phone meets a computer. An iPhone saves photos as HEIC by default, and the moment those files land on a Windows PC, in an email to a colleague, in a job application portal or on a print shop's upload form, the trouble starts: Windows wants a paid codec extension from the Store, plenty of upload forms reject the extension on sight, and older photo editors do not recognise it at all. Nothing is wrong with the photo. The container is the problem.
Drop your HEIC files below and download JPG in seconds. Free, unlimited and completely private: the conversion runs inside your browser, so your files never leave your device and are never uploaded to a server.
No upload. Works with your network switched off. Check it yourself, or read what actually happens to your file.
Why convert HEIC to JPG?
JPG is the answer because JPG is the format nothing argues with. It has been the default photo format since the nineties and there is effectively no software, service or device left that cannot open one. You lose Apple's efficiency, so the file will usually be roughly twice the size, and you gain the ability to actually use the picture. For a photo you are sending, uploading or printing, that is the right trade nearly every time.
Worth knowing before you start: if you only need this occasionally, your iPhone can produce JPG directly. Settings, Camera, Formats, Most Compatible switches new photos to JPG at capture, and the Transfer to Mac or PC setting under Settings, Photos controls whether existing HEIC photos are converted when you copy them across. Converting here is the fix for the photos you already have.
Apple made HEIC the default camera format on iPhone because it stores photos at roughly half the size of JPG. Outside the Apple ecosystem support is poor: Windows needs paid extensions and many websites reject HEIC uploads, making it one of the most converted formats on the web.
JPG has been the default photo format since the nineties and opens everywhere, from ancient office software to modern phones. Its lossy compression shrinks photos dramatically while keeping them looking good at normal viewing sizes. It cannot store transparency, so transparent areas are filled with a solid background.
What this converter does to your HEIC file
The HEIC is decoded by libheif compiled to WebAssembly, running in your browser, because no browser can read HEIC on its own. Those pixels are drawn to a canvas and re-encoded as JPEG at the quality you choose, defaulting to 0.9. That is a second lossy encode on an already lossy photo, so at the default setting the difference is very hard to see and at low settings it compounds. Everything that is not a pixel is dropped along the way: EXIF, the camera and lens data, the date, and the GPS coordinates. The orientation flag is applied before it is discarded, so the photo comes out the right way up rather than sideways.
HEIC vs JPG at a glance
| HEIC | JPG | |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | High Efficiency Image Container | JPEG image |
| Compression | Lossy (HEVC) | Lossy |
| Transparency | No | No |
| Best for | iPhone and iPad photos | Photos and general web images |
What changes when you convert HEIC to JPG
| What happens | |
|---|---|
| Image quality | Reduced. HEIC is already lossy and JPG compresses again, so this is a second encode. Nothing is recovered, and at low quality settings the losses stack. |
| Transparency | HEIC has no alpha channel, so there is no transparency to lose. |
| EXIF and GPS | Removed. The conversion goes through a pixel buffer, so camera data and location are not carried into the JPG file. |
| Colour profile | Not carried across. The image is handled in sRGB, which is right for the web and wrong for colour-managed print work. |
| Animation | Not applicable. HEIC files here are single images. |
| File size | Varies with the content of the image. No figure is quoted here, because none has been measured on a documented test set. |
How to convert HEIC to JPG
- Drop one or more HEIC files into the box above, or click to browse.
- ImageConvert converts each file to JPG right on your device.
- Download a single file, or grab everything at once as a zip.
Frequently asked questions
Will my photo lose quality converting HEIC to JPG?
A little, and almost certainly not visibly at the default setting. HEIC is already lossy, and JPG compresses again, so this is a second encode rather than a copy. Nothing recovers detail HEIC discarded at capture. Drop the quality slider a long way and the two rounds of loss start to show.
What happens to the date and the location in the photo?
Both are removed. The conversion passes through a pixel buffer, so the entire EXIF block, including the capture date, the camera model and the GPS coordinates, is not carried into the JPG. If stripping location data before sharing is what you wanted, this does it. If you needed the date kept, this is not the tool.
Can I convert a Live Photo?
The still image converts normally. The short video paired with it is a separate file that your phone keeps alongside the HEIC, and it is not part of what gets converted here, so the result is the photograph without the motion.
Why is the JPG bigger than the HEIC was?
Because HEIC is a much newer and more efficient compression scheme. Apple's own reason for adopting it was that it stores a comparable photo in roughly half the space of a JPG. Converting to a nineties-era codec gives that efficiency back, which is the price of a file everything can open.
Why does my iPhone make HEIC files at all?
Storage. HEIC lets the same camera roll fit in about half the space, which matters a great deal at 12 megapixels per shot. Apple sets it as the default and offers Most Compatible under Settings, Camera, Formats for people who would rather have JPG from the start.
What is a HEIC file?
HEIC is Apple's high efficiency photo format used by iPhones and iPads. Many apps cannot open it directly.
What is a JPG file?
JPG (JPEG) is the most common photo format, using lossy compression for small file sizes.
Is it free to convert HEIC to JPG?
Yes. There are no limits, no watermarks and no account needed. Convert as many HEIC files as you like.
Are my files private?
Completely. Your HEIC files never leave your browser and are never uploaded to a server, so your images stay on your device.