HEIC and JPG at a glance
| HEIC | JPG (JPEG) | |
|---|---|---|
| Introduced | 2015 standard; iPhone default since iOS 11 (2017) | 1992 |
| Compression | Based on HEVC (H.265) video coding | Discrete cosine transform, 8×8 blocks |
| Typical size for the same quality | About half of JPG | Baseline |
| Color depth | Up to 10-bit and more; HDR | 8-bit |
| Transparency, bursts, depth maps | Supported | No |
| Opens everywhere? | No | Yes |
HEIC is Apple's name for HEIF images compressed with HEVC. HEIF is a container format from MPEG, which is why you'll also see .heif files from some Android phones and cameras. JPG and JPEG are the same format, just with a three-letter or four-letter extension.
Why iPhones use HEIC
It's about storage. A 12-megapixel iPhone photo is typically around 1.5–2.5 MB as HEIC, while the same shot saved as a high-quality JPG is usually 3–5 MB. Across a library of 20,000 photos, that difference adds up to tens of gigabytes. HEIC also keeps extras that JPG can't, such as depth data for Portrait mode, HDR information and multiple images in one file. Apple explains its use of the format in Using HEIF or HEVC media on Apple devices.
Where HEIC causes problems
- Upload forms: job portals, government sites and many online shops accept only JPG or PNG, and they reject
.heicoutright. - Windows: HEIC photos don't open on Windows 10 or 11 until you add the HEIF Image Extensions from the Microsoft Store. Photos copied off an iPhone with a cable can arrive as HEIC, depending on the iPhone's transfer setting.
- Browsers: Safari can display HEIC, but most other browsers can't, so a HEIC image placed on a web page shows up as a broken image for many visitors.
- Older software: older versions of photo editors, office suites and printing kiosks often can't read it.
How to convert HEIC to JPG
In your browser (Windows, Mac, Chromebook, Android)
- Open the HEIC to JPG Converter and drop in one photo or a whole batch.
- Pick JPG and a quality. 90 keeps photos looking the same at a sensible size. Pick PNG if you need lossless output, but expect much larger files.
- Download the files individually or as a ZIP.
The first conversion loads a decoder of about 2 MB (libheif), and after that everything runs on your device. Your photos are never uploaded. The JPGs come out the right way up. HEIC files that hold more than one image, such as bursts or edits, can be expanded into every image or just the main photo.
Two things don't carry over. The output is standard 8-bit, so HDR, depth maps and the video part of Live Photos are dropped. EXIF details (camera, date, GPS location) aren't copied either, which is a bonus if you're posting the photo publicly.
On a Mac
Open the photo in Preview, choose File > Export, and pick JPEG as the format. For several files, select them in Finder, right-click and choose Quick Actions > Convert Image.
On an iPhone
Copying a photo from Photos and pasting it into the Files app, or sharing it to most apps, often produces a JPG automatically. For full control, use the browser converter in Safari.
Stop your iPhone from saving HEIC
If you're tired of converting, you can have the camera save JPG directly. Go to Settings > Camera > Formats and choose Most Compatible. New photos are then saved as JPG, at the cost of more storage. Photos you've already taken stay HEIC.
A gentler option: keep HEIC on the phone, and have it convert on transfer. In the Photos settings, under Transfer to Mac or PC, choose Automatic. The iPhone then sends compatible JPG files when you import over USB. (On recent iOS versions, this is under Settings > Apps > Photos.)
A worked example: how much bigger do the JPGs get?
Suppose you're sending 40 vacation photos that average 2 MB each as HEIC, so 80 MB in total. Converted to JPG at quality 90, they typically come out around 1.5–2 times larger, about 120–160 MB. That's far too much for one email (Gmail's limit is 25 MB). Two ways to fix it:
- For viewing on screens, resize them to 2048 px on the long side. That brings each photo down to a few hundred kilobytes, so the whole set fits in one or two emails.
- For a form that caps each file, run the JPGs through the Image Compressor with a target size. Our guide on compressing an image to 100 KB walks through it.
Which should you keep?
Keep HEIC as your archive format if you're in Apple's ecosystem. It saves space, and it holds more information. Make JPG copies whenever a photo leaves that ecosystem: uploads, email to Windows users, websites and printing services. If you need WebP or PNG instead, convert the JPGs with the Image Format Converter.