What is HEIC?
iPhones save photos as HEIC (High Efficiency Image Container) by default. HEIC is about half the size of JPEG at the same quality, which saves space on your phone. But many websites, upload forms, older Windows PCs and printing services cannot open it, which is why people need to convert.
How it works here
The HEIC file is decoded in your browser. Safari, and Chrome on some platforms, decode HEIC natively; elsewhere the tool uses a WebAssembly HEIC decoder. Then MozJPEG encodes the JPEG. The photo is never uploaded, unlike most HEIC converters. Orientation is applied, so photos stay upright.
Quality and size
At quality 85, the JPG looks the same as the HEIC and is typically 1.5 to 2 times larger. Live Photos convert as the still image only. HDR photos are mapped to standard range.
Metadata
The converted JPG is a fresh file without the HEIC's EXIF data, so the location and camera details are not carried over. That is usually what you want when sharing.
Stop the problem at the source
On an iPhone, Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible saves new photos as JPEG. Or, in Settings → Photos, set Transfer to Mac or PC to Automatic, which converts on transfer. Photos already taken stay HEIC; convert them here.
Many photos
Add up to ten at a time free (500 with the batch licence) and download a ZIP.
HEIC and JPG compared
| Feature | HEIC | JPG |
|---|---|---|
| Size for the same look | About half | About double |
| Depth, Live Photo, HDR data | Yes | Still image only |
| Opens everywhere | Apple devices, recent Windows | Everything |
| Accepted by upload forms | Rarely | Almost always |
Step by step
- Add your HEIC files: choose them, drag them onto the page, or paste.
- Set the quality; 85 is a good default.
- Click Convert to JPG.
- Download each file, or all of them as a ZIP. File names stay the same with the new extension.
Without this tool
On a Mac, open the photo in Preview and use File → Export → JPEG. On Windows, the Photos app can open HEIC with the HEIF Image Extensions installed, and Save as JPEG. On an iPhone, sharing a photo to some apps converts it automatically.
Troubleshooting
- A file shows an error. It may not really be HEIC: files are sometimes renamed without being converted. The tool reads the file's contents, not its name, and says what it found.
- The converted file is larger. That is expected when going to a less efficient or lossless format; it is not a fault.
- Colours shift slightly. Wide-gamut originals are converted to standard sRGB, which every screen shows consistently.
Private by design
The image never leaves your device. It is decoded in your browser, processed in a background worker by open-source codecs compiled to WebAssembly (MozJPEG, libwebp, libavif and OxiPNG, via the jsquash project, plus pica for resizing) and handed back as a download. There is no upload, no account and no server copy to delete. You can confirm it in your browser's developer tools: the Network tab shows the page's own files and the codec files loading, and nothing carrying your image. After the first visit the tools work offline.