HEIC to JPG
Your iPhone saves photos in a format that Chrome, Firefox and most upload forms cannot read. Drop them here and get JPEGs back. The decoder runs inside this page, so nothing is sent anywhere and there is no queue to wait in.
Convert HEIC to JPG
| File | Read as | Before | After | Size |
|---|
Why every other converter wants your photos on their server
Because until recently that was the only way to do it. HEVC decoding needs a licensed decoder, browsers mostly do not have one, and running libheif server-side was simpler than shipping it to the client. That choice costs the operator bandwidth and CPU on every single photo, which is why the free tiers are capped at ten conversions a day and the paid tiers exist at all.
Compiling the same library to WebAssembly moves that cost to your device, where it is effectively free. The decoder is around a few megabytes, downloaded once and cached, and it only loads when you actually convert a HEIC file. The result: no daily cap, no queue, no account, and — the part that matters with camera-roll photos — nothing leaves your machine.
Which format should you pick?
- JPG for anything you are uploading to a form, emailing, or putting in a document. It is the only one you can assume will be accepted.
- PNG if you need a lossless intermediate to edit further, or if the image is a screenshot or contains text. Expect files several times larger than the HEIC original.
- WebP for the web. Smaller than JPEG at the same quality and supported by every current browser, but still rejected by plenty of upload forms.
If you need the file under a specific size
Converting and hitting a byte target are different problems. This page converts at a quality you choose; if a form demands, say, under 200 KB, use the compress tool instead — it searches for the exact quality that lands under your limit, and it reads HEIC directly, so you do not need to convert first.
If the photo is going on a passport or visa application, the passport photo cropper handles the HEIC decode, the crop to the official dimensions, and the file size limit in one pass.
HEIC questions
What is HEIC, and why does my computer refuse to open it?
HEIC is Apple's name for an image stored in the HEIF container using HEVC compression. iPhones have defaulted to it since iOS 11 because it produces roughly half the file size of JPEG at comparable quality.
The problem is licensing rather than technology. HEVC is patent-encumbered, and browser vendors have not all paid for a decoder. Safari has supported HEIC since version 17; Chrome and Firefox still do not decode it natively. Plenty of Windows installs and most government upload forms cannot read it either.
How does this page decode it if my browser cannot?
It ships a decoder compiled to WebAssembly — a build of the open-source libheif library — which runs inside the page. Your browser does not need to understand HEIC; the page brings its own decoder. That code is loaded only when you actually drop a HEIC file in, so nobody using the JPEG tools pays for the download.
Does this lose quality?
Some, unavoidably. HEIC and JPEG are both lossy, so decoding one and encoding the other means a second generation of compression. At the default 92% quality the difference is not visible at normal viewing size on a photograph. Push the quality slider to 100 if you want the largest file and the least additional loss, or choose PNG for a mathematically lossless conversion at several times the file size.
Are my photos uploaded?
No. The decoder runs in your browser, and this site has no upload endpoint — it is static files on a CDN. Load the page, disconnect from the internet, and the conversion still works. That is worth caring about with camera-roll photos more than with most files.
Is there a limit on how many files or how large?
No artificial limit. The practical ceiling is your device's memory, since each image is decoded to raw pixels. A 12-megapixel photo occupies roughly 48 MB while it is being processed, so converting dozens of large files at once on an older phone may struggle. Files are handled one at a time and released as each finishes, which keeps that manageable.
Will location data and other metadata come across?
No. The image is decoded to pixels and re-encoded, and metadata does not survive that. GPS coordinates, camera model, timestamps and Apple-specific tags are all absent from the output. Rotation is applied before the redraw, so photos taken sideways come out the right way up rather than relying on an orientation tag that is no longer there.
Can I just stop my iPhone producing HEIC in the first place?
Yes, and it is often the better fix. In Settings → Camera → Formats, choose Most Compatible and the camera saves JPEG from then on. Separately, under Settings → Photos → Transfer to Mac or PC, choosing Automatic converts on export. Neither changes photos you have already taken, which is what this tool is for.
What about HEIC files that are named .jpg?
Handled. Messaging apps and file transfers routinely rename HEIC files without converting them, which is why a "JPEG" sometimes refuses to open. This tool identifies formats by reading the first bytes of the file rather than trusting the extension, so a mislabelled file is detected and decoded correctly. The table shows what each file actually turned out to be.