Quick answer: iPhones since iOS 11 save photos as HEIC, a format most browsers, Windows apps, and websites still won't display. Drop your HEIC files above, pick a quality, and download universal JPGs (or PNGs) in seconds. The decoder is heic-to (libheif compiled to WebAssembly), it runs inside this tab, and your photos are never uploaded. A 12-megapixel 4032×3024 iPhone shot converts one-for-one, a few seconds each on an average laptop.

Convert Your Photos

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Click or drop HEIC/HEIF files here

Batch supported · runs locally, nothing uploads

Waiting for files…

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Where HEIC Actually Opens

PlatformHEIC SupportNotes
iPhone / iPad (iOS 11+, 2017)NativeDefault camera format since 2017
macOS (High Sierra+, 2017)NativePreview and Photos both read and write it
Windows 10 / 11With free extensionHEIF Image Extensions from the Microsoft Store; HEVC video codec is the paid one
AndroidMostlySamsung and Pixel can shoot HEIC; most gallery apps now read it
Safari (desktop + iOS)YesThe only major browser rendering HEIC on web pages
Chrome, Edge, FirefoxNoHEIC images on a page show as broken — the reason to convert
WordPress, most CMSs, email clientsNo / inconsistentUpload pipelines and attachments expect JPG or PNG

Support status as of 2026. The practical rule: keep HEIC masters on Apple devices, export JPG for anything leaving them.

How the Conversion Works

HEIC is a container for images compressed with HEVC encoding. To turn it into a JPG, the decoder unpacks the HEVC-compressed pixels, applies the stored rotation, and hands the raw bitmap to the browser, which re-encodes it as JPEG at your chosen quality. Every step here runs locally: the libheif decoder ships as a WebAssembly blob inside this page.

Choosing a quality setting

Quality 0.9 is the sweet spot for photos you'll share or print at normal sizes; artifacts are invisible and file size stays reasonable. Drop to 0.75 for web-only images where size matters more than zoomed-in detail. Actual output size varies photo by photo, because JPEG size depends on image content, not just pixel count.

SettingBest forTypical result on a 12MP photo*
Quality 1.0Archiving, editing headroomLargest; visually identical to 0.95
Quality 0.9 (default)Everyday sharing, printingRoughly 1.6–2.2× the HEIC original
Quality 0.75Web pages, email batchesNoticeably smaller, minor softening if you zoom
Quality 0.5Thumbnails, previewsSmallest; compression visible in flat areas
PNG outputScreenshots, text, logosLossless but usually much larger than either format

*Typical ranges, not guarantees. A 2.4MB HEIC usually lands between 3.8MB and 5.3MB at quality 0.9.

A worked example: the vacation batch

Say you have 60 HEIC photos from a trip, averaging 2.4MB each (typical for a 12MP iPhone, which shoots 4032×3024 — that's 12,192,768 pixels, or 12.2MP, in a 4:3 frame). The whole batch is 60 × 2.4MB = 144MB of HEIC.

Converting to quality-0.9 JPG typically grows each photo 1.6–2.2×, so the batch becomes roughly 230–317MB of JPG. Your 25MB email attachment cap fits 10 of the HEIC originals but only 5 of the JPGs — for anything you're mailing rather than sharing by link, run the resize option down to 2048px or drop the quality first.

And yes, HEIC really does save that space: at equivalent visual quality, HEIC runs about half the size of JPEG, which is why Apple switched. A photo stored as a 4.5MB JPG is about a 2.25MB HEIC — 50% smaller.

Open-source licensing note

The decoder is hoppergee/heic-to (LGPL-3.0), shipped unmodified at /vendor/heic-to.js with its license text. It embeds libheif compiled to WebAssembly. There is no server side to this page: nothing to upload to, and no queue.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are my converted JPGs bigger than the HEIC originals?

That is normal. HEIC compresses roughly 50% smaller than JPEG at similar visual quality, so converting almost always grows the file. A 2.4MB HEIC photo typically lands between 3.8MB and 5.3MB as a quality-0.9 JPG. You are trading storage for compatibility, not losing quality.

Do I lose quality converting HEIC to JPG?

At quality 0.9 or higher the recompression is visually invisible for screen and social use. JPEG is lossy, so pixels are re-encoded once, but at high quality settings the difference only shows up if you zoom and pixel-peep. Use PNG output if you need a lossless format, at the cost of much larger files.

Why does my iPhone save photos as HEIC?

Since iOS 11 (2017), iPhones default to HEIC, the container for HEIF images compressed with HEVC, because it roughly halves storage versus JPEG at the same quality. A 12-megapixel 4032 by 3024 shot takes about half the space, which adds up fast across a camera roll.

Can Windows or Android open HEIC files?

Windows 10 and 11 open HEIC once the free HEIF Image Extensions are installed from the Microsoft Store (HEVC video support is a separate 99-cent codec, but photos only need the free pack). Most Android phones save JPEG by default and many galleries now read HEIC too. Chrome, Edge, and Firefox still do not render HEIC on web pages, which is why converters exist.

Are my photos uploaded anywhere?

No. The HEIC decoder is libheif compiled to WebAssembly and shipped with this page, so decoding happens inside your browser tab. Your photos never leave your device, which matters for client work, medical photos, or anything you would not put in someone else's cloud.

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