Convert HEIC to JPG

The problem this solves

A photo taken on an iPhone is a HEIC file, and essentially nothing outside Apple hardware can open it. No browser displays it, most content systems reject the upload, and older Windows machines will not show it at all. That is not a flaw in the photo, it is simply a format designed for a device ecosystem. Converting to JPG turns an unopenable file into a universal one, and it is the single most common thing people need to do with iPhone photos.

Apple Support: using HEIF or HEVC media on Apple devices

Why the quality cost here is mild

HEIC uses HEVC coding, which is lossy, so the file you are converting is already a reconstruction. Converting to JPG adds a second lossy step. In practice the result is good, because a phone photo carries more quality headroom than a 1 MB email attachment needs, and the detail that gets discarded in the second pass would have been invisible at the size the photo is usually viewed. Where it does matter is if you intend to print a large copy, in which case keeping the original HEIC and using a print workflow that supports it is the better route.

• One conversion is fine for sharing, email, and web use.
• For a large print, use the original HEIC through a print workflow that supports it.
• Keep the HEIC original. It is the highest quality version you have.
• Do not convert repeatedly, and do not re-compress the JPG afterwards.

The file size question, which is the opposite of usual

Converting HEIC to JPG usually produces a larger file, not a smaller one, because HEIC is an efficient format and JPG is a simpler one. That surprises people who expect every conversion to shrink a file. A phone photo might be 2.5 MB as HEIC and 4 MB as the equivalent JPG. If the file is going somewhere with a size limit, this matters, and WebP is the better target. If it is going to an email or an upload field that simply needs a format it recognises, the larger JPG is fine.

NoteIf a form rejects a converted file for being too large, the format is wrong rather than the conversion. Use WebP instead.

Converting a whole shoot

A phone library is a folder of hundreds of files, and converting them individually is tedious. Adding the whole folder at once and using a single high quality setting keeps the set consistent, which matters for a gallery. The originals stay where they are, so the conversion is repeatable and nothing is destroyed. Because the files are personal, it is worth noting that the whole operation happens on your device and nothing is uploaded.

• Add the entire folder and use one quality setting for consistency.
• Use a high quality setting. A phone photo has headroom to spare.
• Check a few images at 100 percent before processing everything.
• Keep the HEIC originals. You may want them later.
• Everything is processed locally, so personal photos never leave the device.