What HEIC is and how to convert iPhone photos to JPG
Last updated 2026-10-05
You send an iPhone photo to a form or a Windows computer and it will not open or upload. The file ends in .HEIC, a format Apple switched to by default years ago and that many websites and older programs still do not accept.
What HEIC is
HEIC is Apple's name for a photo saved in the HEIF container, usually compressed with the HEVC video codec. It typically produces files roughly half the size of a JPEG at similar quality, which is why iPhones use it to save storage. The catch is compatibility: JPEG works nearly everywhere, HEIC does not.
Convert it in your browser
Open the HEIC Converter, drop in one photo or a batch, choose JPG or PNG and download. The conversion happens on your device, so the photos are not uploaded. With several files you get a single zip, and files with the same name are numbered so nothing overwrites another.
Choose JPG for the smallest file and widest acceptance, and PNG only if you need lossless output, remembering that PNG files from photos are much larger.
Stop creating HEIC in the first place
On an iPhone you can change the setting under Settings, Camera, Formats and choose Most Compatible, which saves new photos as JPEG. You trade larger files for compatibility. Photos you already took stay as they are, so you will still need to convert those.
What changes in the conversion
A converted JPEG is a fresh compression of the decoded image, so there is a small quality change and the file will usually be larger than the HEIC. Keep the original HEIC if you want the best copy. Some extras, such as Live Photo motion, are not carried into a plain JPG.
If a photo will not convert
A file that cannot be decoded, for example a damaged one or an unusual HEIF variant, is skipped and reported rather than stopping the whole batch. Very large batches are limited by your device's memory, so convert in smaller groups on a phone.