What is a HEIC file?
HEIC (High Efficiency Image Container) is the photo format iPhones and iPads have used by default since iOS 11. It stores a photo in about half the space of a JPG at the same visual quality, which is why your iPhone can hold so many pictures. The format is part of the HEIF standard, so you may also see files ending in .heif; this converter handles both.
The catch is compatibility. Apple devices open HEIC without a problem, but many Windows programs, older Android phones, websites, online shops and government or job application forms do not accept it. JPG works everywhere, so converting is the quickest fix.
How to convert HEIC to JPG on Windows, Mac or Android
The steps are the same on every device, because the conversion runs in your web browser:
- Copy the HEIC photos to your computer or phone (by cable, AirDrop, email or a cloud folder such as iCloud Drive, Google Drive or OneDrive).
- Open this page and choose the photos. You can select up to 50 at once.
- Pick JPG for normal photos, keep the quality at 90%, and choose a smaller size only if you need to email or upload them.
- Click Convert and download. A single photo downloads straight away; several come as one ZIP file that your computer can open with a double-click.
On Windows you could also install the HEIF and HEVC extensions from the Microsoft Store, but one of them can cost a small fee and they only help you view the photos, not share them as JPG.
Worked example: sending iPhone photos to a printing shop
Say you have 24 holiday photos from an iPhone, about 2.5 MB each as HEIC, and the printing shop's website only accepts JPG. Choose all 24 files, keep JPG at 90% and "Original size", and convert. You get one ZIP with 24 JPGs, each around 3 to 5 MB at the full 12-megapixel resolution, ready to upload. If the shop has a file size limit, convert again with the "Large (3,000 px)" size, which is still plenty for a 10 × 15 cm (4 × 6 inch) print.
For an email, choose the "Email (1,600 px)" size instead. Each photo then drops to a few hundred kilobytes, so all of them fit in one message.
Stop your iPhone saving HEIC (if you want)
If you always need JPG, you can change the iPhone setting so new photos are saved as JPG:
- Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible saves new photos as JPG. They take more storage space.
- Settings → Photos → Transfer to Mac or PC → Automatic converts photos to JPG when you copy them to a computer with a cable.
Photos you already took stay HEIC, so a converter is still useful for older pictures and for photos other people send you.
Privacy: why converting in the browser matters
Many free converters upload your photos to a server. That is a real risk for pictures of children, documents, passports or your home. DocNova decodes HEIC photos on your own device using a WebAssembly build of the open-source libheif library, then saves them with your browser. The new files contain only the image: GPS location, camera model and the original date taken are not copied. Keep your original HEIC files if you want to keep that information.