OneTaskBy Tim King · Updated
HEIC to JPG Converter
Convert iPhone HEIC or HEIF Photos to JPEG, With Quality and Resize
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How the HEIC To JPG works
This HEIC to JPG converter works on iPhone photos with no upload. Drop a HEIC photo from an iPhone or iPad on the page and it is decoded and saved as a JPG. Choose the quality and an optional maximum width, check the preview, download. The decoder is loaded on demand and runs entirely in your browser, so the photo never leaves your device.
HEIC to JPG: what it does and why
HEIC to JPG is the conversion Apple users hit most often. Since iOS 11 the iPhone camera has saved photos in HEIC, the High Efficiency Image Container, and while Apple devices handle it seamlessly much of the rest of the world does not: Windows without an add-on, older Android phones, most web upload forms, many printers and a long list of applications will refuse the file or show a blank thumbnail.
What HEIC actually is. HEIC is a container holding an image compressed with HEVC, the same codec used for 4K video. It stores a photo in roughly half the space of a JPEG at the same quality, which is why Apple adopted it. The catch is that HEVC decoding is patent-encumbered, so browsers and many operating systems left it out. This page ships its own decoder, built from the open source libheif library, so no plug-in or operating system support is needed.
Quality. The JPG is a second lossy encoding of an already lossy photo, so the default here is 90, higher than the usual 85, to keep the compound loss out of sight. At 90 a 12 megapixel iPhone photo comes out around 3 to 5 MB; drop to 80 for something closer to 2 MB with a barely visible difference, or set a maximum width, which saves far more than the slider does.
What is kept and what is not. The pixels are decoded at full resolution in the colour space the phone recorded. Live Photo motion, depth maps and burst sequences are not carried across; a Live Photo converts to its still frame. EXIF data, including the location the photo was taken, is not copied into the JPG, since the image is re-encoded from raw pixels. If you need the EXIF retained, keep the HEIC alongside the JPG.
Ten-bit and HDR photos. Recent iPhones can record HEIC in 10-bit HDR. JPEG is 8-bit, so the image is tone-mapped down to standard range. Highlights that looked very bright on the phone's screen will look ordinary in the JPG; that is inherent in the format, not a fault in the conversion.
Avoiding the problem at source. On an iPhone, Settings, Camera, Formats, and choose Most Compatible to shoot JPEG in future. Photos already taken stay HEIC, which is what this page is for.
FAQ
Why can't I open a HEIC file?
The application or operating system has no HEVC decoder, which is usually a licensing decision rather than a technical one. Convert the file to JPG here and anything that opens photos will read it without needing an extension or codec pack.
Does converting HEIC to JPG lose quality?
Slightly, because JPEG is lossy and the photo is re-encoded. At quality 90 the difference is not visible in ordinary viewing, and the JPG will be roughly twice the size of the HEIC as a consequence of the older, less efficient compression.
Why does the first conversion take a moment?
The HEIC decoder is about 2 MB and is fetched only when you drop your first file, so the page itself stays quick to load. Later conversions in the same session reuse it and start immediately.
What happens to a Live Photo or a burst?
The still key frame is converted and the motion or the remaining burst frames are discarded, because JPEG holds a single image. If a HEIC contains several images, the tool tells you how many it found and converts the primary one.
Does the JPG keep the location and camera data?
No. The image is rebuilt from decoded pixels, so EXIF is not carried into the JPG. For sharing that is usually a benefit; if you need the shooting data, keep the original HEIC.
See also: all Images tools, Units, Audio & Video, Documents, Data & Code.
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