How to use it
- Press Choose files and pick your .heic photos, or Choose a folder to take a whole folder from your computer. Dropping the photos on the box works too.
- Leave Save as on JPG for photos that open everywhere. Pick PNG only if an app or form asks for it.
- Adjust Quality if you need to. It starts at 90 here; a lower number gives a smaller file.
- Open More options for Make every file smaller than, Longest side (px) and the Photo details (EXIF) choices.
- Conversion starts as soon as the photos are added. Save them one by one with Download, or together with Download all as a ZIP.
What HEIC is and why your iPhone uses it
HEIC is the file type iPhones use for photos saved in HEIF, the High Efficiency Image File Format. HEIF is a standard from MPEG (ISO/IEC 23008-12). It is a container: inside a .heic file, the picture is compressed with HEVC, the codec also known as H.265.
Apple made HEIF the camera format in 2017 with iOS 11. iPhone 7 and later save photos this way when the camera is set to High Efficiency, which Apple describes as the space-saving option. The catch is compatibility: a photo that looks fine on the phone may not open once it leaves Apple's devices.
Where HEIC photos open, and where they don't
Support depends on the system and, on Windows, on extra codecs:
| Where | Opens HEIC? | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| iPhone, iPad, Mac | Yes | Photos and Preview on a Mac can also export a copy as JPEG or PNG. |
| Windows | Only with extra codecs | HEIC opens after the HEIF and HEVC extensions are added from the Microsoft Store. |
| Android | From Android 8.0 | Older Android versions can't show HEIF images. |
| Upload forms | Depends on the form | If a form lists only JPG and PNG, a HEIC file may be refused. Convert it first. |
Apple notes that AirDrop, Messages and email may convert photos to JPEG on their own when the receiving device doesn't support HEIF. Importing over a USB cable to a PC can convert them too, unless Keep Originals is turned on under Settings → Apps → Photos. iCloud Photos keeps the original format.
Make the iPhone take JPG photos instead
If you'd rather not convert at all, go to Settings → Camera → Formats and choose Most Compatible. New photos are then saved as JPEG and new videos as H.264. Choose High Efficiency to switch back. The setting only appears on devices that can capture HEIF.
Two things to keep in mind: Most Compatible gives up the space saving, so photos take more room on the phone, and the switch only affects new photos. Everything already in your library stays HEIC, and that is what this converter is for.
Date taken, location and Live Photos
Phone photos carry hidden details (EXIF): the date and time, the camera model and often the GPS position where the photo was taken. By default the JPG keeps the date taken and the camera but drops the location. Albums still sort by date, and nobody who receives the photo can see where it was taken.
Under Photo details (EXIF) you can also choose Remove everything, or Keep everything, including location. PNG files are always saved without photo details. The photo is turned upright in the pixels themselves, so it never appears sideways in other apps. To see what a photo reveals before you share it, use Remove EXIF data.
A Live Photo records 1.5 seconds before and after the moment you take it. A JPG holds a single still image, so you get the still photo; the movement and sound are not part of the result.
JPG or PNG from an iPhone photo?
JPG is the right choice for almost every photo. It's what forms, email and print shops expect, and the files stay a sensible size. JPG is lossy, so a little detail is given up, but at the default quality of 90 the loss is small.
PNG is lossless: the converted pixels are stored exactly. The price is size, because PNG is not designed for photos and a photo saved as PNG is a lot bigger than the same photo as JPG. Choose it when you plan to edit the picture further and want the best starting copy, then save the finished version as JPG.
Questions
- Are my photos uploaded anywhere?
- No. The HEIC files are decoded on your device with libheif, an open-source HEIF decoder that runs inside the browser, and the JPGs are saved with an ordinary download. After the page has loaded once, it even works offline. See how to check it yourself.
- Can I convert a few hundred photos at once?
- Yes. There is no file limit, only your device's memory. On a computer, Choose a folder adds every image in the folder, and Download all saves the results as one ZIP.
- One photo says it couldn't be read. What now?
- The file may be damaged, or use a HEIF variant the decoder doesn't support yet. On a Mac, open it in Photos or Preview and use File → Export to save a JPEG; on the iPhone, sharing it by email or AirDrop to a device without HEIF support may convert it.
- Should I change my iPhone to Most Compatible?
- Only if you often send photos to places that refuse HEIC. Most Compatible saves new photos as JPEG straight away, but they use more storage. Many people keep High Efficiency and convert the few photos they need to share.
- Can I make the JPGs small enough for an upload form?
- Yes. Under More options, type the limit in Make every file smaller than, for example 500 KB. The quality is lowered step by step until each photo fits, and the pixel size shrinks only if the lowest quality is still too big. A KB here is 1,000 bytes, so a 500 KB limit means 500,000 bytes and also passes forms that count 1,024.