How to convert HEIC to JPG

The fastest way, on any device

Open the converter, drop the files in, press convert. It runs inside the browser tab using libheif compiled to WebAssembly, so nothing is uploaded, there is no file limit and no watermark. It works the same in Safari on an iPhone as it does in Chrome on Windows, which is the point: one method that does not depend on which machine you happen to be sitting at.

The rest of this guide covers the built-in options on each platform, which are worth knowing when you are offline or converting a single file you already have open.

On a Mac

macOS has three routes and most people only know the slowest one.

Quick Actions in Finder, for a batch

1. Select the HEIC files in Finder. All of them, if you like.
2. Right-click the selection and choose Quick Actions, then Convert Image.
3. Set Format to JPEG, choose an image size, and confirm.

The converted files appear alongside the originals, which stay where they were. This is the fastest native option and it handles hundreds of files without complaint.

Preview, for one or two

1. Open the file in Preview.
2. Choose File, then Export.
3. Set the Format dropdown to JPEG, drag the quality slider, and save.

Preview can do batches too, if you open all the files at once and use File > Export Selected Images, but the Quick Action is less fiddly.

Photos app, when the photo lives in your library

Select the photo, then File > Export > Export 1 Photo, and set Photo Kind to JPEG. Use this one when you also want to control whether location data is included, because the export sheet has a checkbox for it.

On Windows

This is where HEIC becomes genuinely annoying. Windows 10 and 11 cannot open, preview or convert HEIC out of the box. The official fix is the HEIF Image Extensions package in the Microsoft Store, and the codec that actually matters for photos taken by an iPhone is a paid item. Plenty of people install it, discover thumbnails now work, and never realise they paid to solve a problem a web page solves for free.

Practical options, in the order most people should try them:

1. Convert in the browser. No codec, no install, no admin rights. Useful on a work machine where you cannot install anything anyway.
2. Install the HEIF extension. Worth it if you regularly need Windows Photos, File Explorer thumbnails and Paint to handle HEIC natively.
3. Change the phone instead. If the files are coming from your own iPhone, switching the camera format stops the problem at source. See below.

On an iPhone or iPad

Two different jobs get confused here: converting photos you already have, and stopping new ones being HEIC.

Stop the camera making HEIC

Go to Settings > Camera > Formats and choose Most Compatible. From that moment the camera shoots JPEG instead of HEIC. Existing photos are not touched, and you lose roughly half your storage efficiency, which is the trade you are making.

Convert on transfer

Go to Settings > Photos, scroll to Transfer to Mac or PC, and pick Automatic. Photos are converted to JPEG as they are copied off the device. Keep Originals sends the HEIC untouched. This one setting is the cause of most "why is my photo a HEIC" confusion.

Convert a photo you already have

Open this page in Safari on the phone, pick the photos from your library, and convert. The files land in your Downloads. There is no app to install and nothing is uploaded.

On Android

Android reads HEIC on most modern versions, and Google Photos will happily display it. Trouble usually appears when an older app, a file upload form, or a printing service refuses it. The browser converter is the simplest answer, since it works identically in Chrome on Android.

What converting actually costs you

Both HEIC and JPG are lossy formats, so converting re-encodes rather than copies. Some detail that survived the first compression will not survive the second. At quality 90 this is not visible at normal viewing size, and it is not something to lose sleep over for a photo destined for email or a web form. It does matter if you plan to convert repeatedly, so keep the HEIC as your master.

Expect the JPG to be roughly twice the size of the HEIC for the same picture. HEIC uses a modern video-derived codec and JPG is a design from 1992. That size difference is the entire reason Apple switched.

The other thing that changes is metadata. Some converters copy the EXIF block across, which carries GPS coordinates, camera model, serial numbers and timestamps. Ours writes fresh pixel data with no EXIF attached, so the JPG comes out clean. If you want to see what an original is carrying before you decide, drop it into the EXIF viewer.

Questions