Convert HEIC to JPG High Efficiency Image Container ↔ Joint Photographic Experts Group Free Online Secure
HEIC is what an iPhone saves by default, and almost nothing outside Apple can open it. This turns it into a JPG, at the photo's own size.
Convert your file
Drop HEIC photos here, or choose them. You can add more at any time.
Your file never leaves this device. Everything runs in your browser.
Nothing uploaded
Convert from HEIC
Where these formats come from
Each of these formats was written to solve a different problem. JPEG arrived in 1992 from the Joint Photographic Experts Group and was built for photographs: it discards the detail the eye is least likely to miss, which is why a photo shrinks enormously and why text in a JPEG looks smudged. PNG was written in a hurry in 1996, after the company holding the patent behind GIF began charging for it; it is lossless and has real transparency, which is why logos and screenshots belong in it. WebP came from Google in 2010 and does both jobs, typically a quarter smaller than either. BMP is Microsoft's plain format with no compression at all, and HEIC, Apple's default since 2017, borrows video compression to store a still at about half the size of a JPEG.
Where you meet them
Photographs travel as JPEG or, straight off a recent iPhone, as HEIC. Anything with sharp edges — screenshots, logos, diagrams, text, anything needing a transparent background — belongs in PNG, where JPEG would blur the edges. WebP is what a modern website serves to save bandwidth. BMP survives mostly inside Windows software and in places where a program wants pixels with no decoding at all.
Questions people ask
Should I save this as PNG or JPEG?
Look at the edges. A photograph has no hard edges, so JPEG's way of discarding detail is invisible and the file ends up a fraction of the size. A screenshot, a logo, a chart or anything with text has hard edges, and JPEG leaves a visible halo around every one of them — that is where PNG belongs, even though the file is larger. If the image needs a transparent background, PNG is the only choice of the two.
Why will nothing open my HEIC photos?
Because HEIC is newer than most of the software people have. It has been the iPhone default since 2017, but Windows needs an add-on to show it, many Android phones will not, and a great deal of web software still rejects it outright. Converting to JPEG is the usual answer: the photograph is unchanged to the eye, the file is roughly twice the size, and everything made in the last thirty years can open it.
Does the file lose quality?
It depends on what the two formats can hold. Converting between formats that store the same thing — a PNG to a BMP, a WAV to a FLAC — loses nothing. Converting into a format that throws information away to save space, such as JPEG or MP3, loses a little every time, and converting back does not bring it back. Where a choice exists, this page errs towards keeping the original quality rather than making the smallest file.
Is my file uploaded anywhere?
No. The conversion happens inside your browser, on your own machine; the file never leaves it and there is no server here that could receive it. That is why a large file is limited by your own memory rather than by an upload, and why nothing you convert can appear in anybody's logs — including ours. The audio and video tools do fetch their conversion engine from this site the first time you use them, some thirty megabytes once; after that the work still happens entirely on your machine.
Why people convert HEIC to JPG
If you have ever taken a photo on an iPhone, sent it to a friend with a different kind of phone or tried to open it on a Windows computer, you have probably met the problem. The picture is a .heic file, and almost nothing outside Apple's world can open it. The recipient sees a blank icon, an error message or a request to install something. JPG, by contrast, opens everywhere: on every phone, every computer, every browser, every email program and every upload form. That is the whole reason to convert HEIC to JPG: you want the photo to be usable by anyone, on any device, without asking them to do anything.
The situations are everyday ones. A photo for a job application form that accepts only JPG. A picture to send to a relative who uses an Android phone. A batch of holiday photos to print at a shop that takes only common formats. A set of pictures to put on a website. A photograph to attach to an insurance claim. In each case the file has to be in a format that the other side can open, and converting HEIC to JPG is the fastest way to get there.
This page converts HEIC to JPG in your browser. Your photo never leaves your device, which matters for pictures of people, documents and anything private. Below you will find how the conversion treats your photo, why the JPG is usually larger, what happens to Live Photos, and how to get a clean result.
What HEIC is, and why your iPhone uses it
A format that packs photos tightly
HEIC is the format an iPhone saves photos in by default. Its great advantage is efficiency: it stores the same picture in about half the space a JPG would need, which means more photos fit on your phone. Apple adopted it for exactly that reason. Inside, it uses a modern compression method that discards less visible detail than JPG's older method for the same file size.
The catch: almost nothing else opens it
The catch is compatibility. Outside Apple's own devices and a handful of up-to-date programs, HEIC is poorly supported. Many versions of Windows, most websites, most upload forms, many printers and a lot of older software cannot read it. Even where some support exists, it can be partial or require extra codecs. That is why so many people end up needing to convert HEIC to JPG.
A setting that avoids the problem
iPhones have a setting, in the camera options, that makes them save photos in the most compatible format, which is JPG, instead of HEIC. If you often share photos with people on other systems, switching it is worth considering. Photos already taken stay as HEIC, though, which is where this page comes in.
What the conversion keeps
Every pixel and the exact dimensions
When you convert HEIC to JPG here, every pixel of the photo is kept and its exact dimensions stay the same. The picture is turned into a JPG at the photo's own size. Nothing is resized, cropped or stretched. A photo of 4032 by 3024 pixels, typical of a recent iPhone, is still 4032 by 3024 pixels afterwards.
The look of the photo
Colours, brightness and composition are preserved. The JPG looks like the HEIC did on screen. You are changing the container and the method of compression, not editing the photograph.
What the conversion cannot avoid
The JPG is usually larger
Because HEIC packs the same picture into fewer bytes, and JPG cannot match that efficiency, the JPG usually comes out larger than the HEIC, often noticeably so. A photo that was 2 megabytes as HEIC might be 3 or 4 as JPG. This is not a fault of the conversion; it is the price of moving to an older, less efficient format. If the size is a problem, you can reduce it afterwards with the JPG compressor.
A little quality is given up
JPG discards detail to keep files small, and converting from HEIC to JPG applies that discarding on top of HEIC's own. A little quality is given up. For ordinary photographs at normal viewing sizes, the difference is very hard to see. If you plan to edit the picture heavily or print it large, keep the original HEIC as your master and treat the JPG as a copy for sharing.
Why you should keep the HEIC
The HEIC is the more faithful and more compact original. Converting to JPG is a one-way trip in terms of detail, because what JPG discards is gone. Keeping the HEIC means you can always make another JPG, at any time, from the best version of the photo.
Live Photos keep only their still frame
A Live Photo on an iPhone is a short moving clip plus a still image. When you convert HEIC to JPG, only the still frame is kept; the motion is not. A JPG is a single picture and cannot hold movement. If you want the moving part, you must share the Live Photo from your phone in a way that supports it.
Sending iPhone photos to people who cannot open them
The most common story is simple. You take a photo, send it, and the other person cannot see it. They are not doing anything wrong; their device simply does not understand the format. Some messaging apps convert the photo for you in transit, which is why the problem seems to come and go. Email attachments, shared folders and direct file transfers do not, and a HEIC arrives as it is.
When you convert HEIC to JPG before you send, you take the guesswork out. The recipient gets a file that opens on any phone, tablet or computer, in any program that handles pictures. They do not need to install a plug-in, change a setting or ask you to send it again. For a family album, a work project or a customer who needs pictures of a repair, that reliability is worth the extra size of the file.
Batches of photos
If you have many photos to share, convert them in a batch rather than waiting for each recipient to complain. Do a handful at a time, keep the originals in your gallery and send the JPGs. For a very large collection, such as a whole holiday, it is worth checking the total size of the JPGs, since they will be larger than the HEIC originals, and compressing them if the total is too big to send.
HEIC on Windows and other systems
Recent versions of Windows and some programs can open HEIC with a free or paid extension, but support is patchy, and what works on one machine fails on another. Phones from other makers may or may not show a HEIC attached to a message. Websites that accept photo uploads often reject the format outright. Printing kiosks and online print shops are frequent offenders. Converting to JPG removes every one of these uncertainties at once.
If you work on a Windows computer and receive HEIC photos from iPhone users, a quick way to deal with them is to convert HEIC to JPG as they arrive, keeping the JPGs in your own folder. That way every program you use can open them, including editors, document processors and email, and you never have to wonder whether a given tool understands the format.
Editing HEIC photos
Photo editors vary in their HEIC support. Some open the files but cannot save back to HEIC; others do not open them at all. For editing, converting to JPG first is the most compatible route, and, if you want to avoid loss during repeated editing, you can then convert the JPG to PNG with the JPG to PNG converter before you start work.
How to convert HEIC to JPG here
Add your photo
Drop the HEIC file onto the page or pick it from your device. It is read inside your browser and is not uploaded.
Convert
Press the button. The photo is turned into a JPG at its own size. For a normal photo this takes a few seconds, since the work happens on your own device.
Download and check
Download the JPG and open it. Check that it looks as it should and note the size. If it is too big for where it has to go, compress it.
Questions people ask before converting
Why won't my HEIC photo open?
Because HEIC is what an iPhone saves by default, and almost nothing outside Apple can open it. Converting it to JPG makes it open anywhere.
Why is the JPG bigger than the HEIC?
HEIC packs the same picture into fewer bytes, and JPG cannot match that. A larger file is normal.
What happens to my Live Photos?
Only the still frame is kept. The movement is not carried over.
Is my photo uploaded?
No. Everything runs in your browser and the photo never leaves your device.
Who converts HEIC to JPG
iPhone users sharing with others
Friends and family on Android or Windows can open a JPG without any fuss.
People filling in forms and applications
Most upload forms accept JPG and reject HEIC. Converting gets the photo through.
Anyone printing or publishing photos
Print shops and websites expect common formats. JPG is accepted everywhere.
Common mistakes
Deleting the HEIC after converting
Keep the original. It is the more compact, higher-quality version.
Expecting a smaller file
The JPG is usually larger. Compress it if size matters.
Expecting a Live Photo to move
Only the still frame survives in a JPG.
Related tools
If the JPG is too big, compress JPG. If it is sideways, rotate the JPG, or rotate the original with the HEIC rotator. To put photos into a document, use JPG to PDF. For other formats, JPG to PNG and JPG to WebP are one click away, and to label a photo, add a watermark to JPG.
When to convert HEIC to JPG, and when not to
Converting is right when the photo has to be opened by someone or something that does not understand HEIC: a recipient on another system, a form, a print shop, a website, a program. It is the wrong move when everyone involved uses Apple devices and nothing needs to change, in which case the smaller HEIC is the better file. And it is not necessary if the device you use to send already converts photos for you.
For the common cases, such as sharing, uploading and printing, it is quick, private and dependable to convert HEIC to JPG in the browser. Your original is never changed, so you can come back and convert HEIC to JPG again whenever you like, at any time, from the best version of the photo.
Keeping the size down
JPGs made from HEIC are larger than the originals. If the size matters, for example for an upload limit or an email, reduce the result with the JPG compressor, which lowers the resolution for a lighter file. Photos from recent phones have far more pixels than any screen needs, so a moderate reduction usually costs nothing you can see.
Large photos and slow devices
Everything runs on your own device, so large photos depend on its memory. A recent iPhone photo is no trouble for a modern computer or phone. A very large panorama may be slow on an older device. If it struggles, give the browser a moment and avoid switching to other apps while it works.
Photos from burst mode and portrait mode
Special iPhone features, such as portrait mode with its depth information, store extra data alongside the picture. When you convert HEIC to JPG, you get the picture itself, as displayed, without the extra data. For sharing that is exactly what you want. For editing the depth effect later in Apple's own tools, keep the original HEIC.
Checking the result properly
After you convert HEIC to JPG, open the JPG and look at it at the size you will use. Check that the orientation is right, since photos taken sideways can sometimes need turning, and that colours look as they did on your phone. If something looks off, convert again from the original, because the HEIC is untouched.
Your photo stays on your device
The conversion happens locally. Your photo is read by your own browser, turned into a JPG there and handed back. Nothing is uploaded, so there is no copy on a server and no one else who could see it. For pictures of people, documents and private moments, that is the safe way to convert HEIC to JPG.
A worked example
Say you took a photograph of a damaged car on your iPhone for an insurance claim, and the insurer's portal accepts only JPG. The file is a HEIC of 2.4 megabytes. You drop it here and press the button. You download a JPG of the same dimensions and about 3.8 megabytes, which looks identical on screen. The portal's limit is 5 megabytes, so you upload it directly. The original HEIC stays on your phone.
A simple routine for iPhone photos
Take your photos as usual. When you need to share or upload some, pick the ones you need and convert HEIC to JPG. Check one result at the size you will use. If the file is too big, compress it. Send or upload the JPGs and leave the HEIC originals in your gallery, where they take less space and hold the best version of every picture. This routine takes a minute for a handful of photos, and it means that nobody who receives your pictures ever has to wonder how to open them.
If you find yourself doing it constantly, consider the camera setting that saves photos in the most compatible format. You will lose the space saving, but you will gain pictures that work everywhere from the moment you take them. For occasional needs, converting only when required keeps your phone's storage use low and still lets you share with anyone.
A word on file names
Phone photos arrive with names like a long string of letters and digits, which tell the recipient nothing. When you convert HEIC to JPG for sharing, consider renaming the files to something meaningful, such as the place and the date. It takes a few seconds and makes a folder of pictures far easier to use, for you and for everyone you send them to.
Before you close the page
Check that you downloaded the JPG, that it looks right and is small enough for where it is going, and that you kept the original HEIC.
Summary
To convert HEIC to JPG here, drop the photo and press the button. Every pixel and the exact dimensions are kept. The JPG usually comes out larger than the HEIC, because HEIC packs the same picture into fewer bytes, and a little quality is given up because JPG discards detail. Live Photos keep only their still frame. Nothing leaves your device.