How to use it
- Press Choose files or drop your HEIC photos. JPG and PNG files can be mixed in too.
- Put them in order with the ↑ ↓ buttons, or drag a row with the mouse. Each photo becomes one page.
- Choose a Page size: Same as the picture, A4 or US Letter. For A4 and Letter, also pick the Orientation and the Margin.
- Pick an Image quality, press Make the PDF and then Download to save photos.pdf.
Why HEIC needs converting for a PDF
iPhones save photos as HEIF/HEVC files, usually with the .heic extension, because they take less space than JPG at similar quality (Apple Support). A PDF stores pictures with a fixed set of filters defined in the PDF specification, such as DCTDecode for JPEG, JPXDecode for JPEG 2000 and JBIG2Decode for black-and-white scans (iText knowledge base). HEVC, the compression inside HEIC files, isn't one of them. So every HEIC photo is decoded and saved as a high-quality JPG inside the PDF.
Here that happens in one step. The photos are decoded in your browser by libheif, an open-source HEIF library, then placed on the pages. You don't have to convert them to JPG first and keep a second set of files.
Which quality to pick
| Image quality | What happens to HEIC photos | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Original | Full resolution, saved as JPG at quality 92 | Printing, keeping a record |
| Smaller file | Longest side 2000 px, JPG at quality 80 | E-mail, upload forms with a size limit |
"Original" keeps every pixel of the photo, but because HEIC has to become JPG, the PDF can be larger than the HEIC files were. If it is too big for an upload form, choose Smaller file, or shrink the finished PDF with Compress PDF.
Upright photos and no location
Photos taken with the phone turned sideways are stood upright before they are placed, so the pages read the right way. The photo details (EXIF) are not copied into the PDF: the location, the camera and the time the photo was taken stay out of the file you send. The PDF does keep the pictures themselves, so check that nothing private is visible in them.
Typical uses
- Receipts or documents photographed with an iPhone, sent as one PDF instead of a dozen photos.
- Pages of a handwritten form for an online application that only accepts PDF.
- A short photo report for work, in the order you took the pictures or any order you like.
If you need separate JPG files instead, use HEIC to JPG. For photos in other formats, JPG to PDF is the same tool.
Questions
- Can I do this on my iPhone?
- Yes. Open this page in Safari, press Choose files and pick the photos from your library. The PDF is saved to Files or your downloads.
- Why is my PDF bigger than the HEIC photos?
- HEIC compresses better than JPG, and a PDF needs JPG. Choose Smaller file, or compress the finished PDF.
- Is the location from my photos in the PDF?
- No. The photo details, including the location, are not copied into the PDF.
- Can I add photos in other formats?
- Yes. JPG, PNG, WebP and other image formats can be mixed in; each becomes a page.
- Are my photos uploaded?
- No. Decoding and building the PDF both run in your browser. The privacy receipt under the result shows the network requests made while processing, with 0 bytes sent.