How to convert HEIC to JPG on any device

You email a photo from your iPhone, and the person on the other end can't open it. Or you upload a picture to a website and it's rejected. The culprit is almost always the same: HEIC, the format iPhones use by default. This guide explains what HEIC is, why so many apps choke on it, and how to convert it to the universally-supported JPG with tools that are already on your iPhone, Mac, or PC — without uploading your photos anywhere.

What is HEIC, and why does Apple use it?

HEIC (High Efficiency Image Container) is Apple's default photo format since iOS 11. It's based on the HEIF standard and, at similar quality, produces files roughly half the size of JPEG. That's genuinely great for your phone's storage — a photo library takes up far less space. It also supports niceties like depth data and Live Photos.

The downside is compatibility. JPEG is understood by essentially everything made in the last 30 years; HEIC is not. Windows needs an extra codec, many websites reject it, older software can't read it, and plenty of email recipients just see a file they can't open.

When you should convert to JPG

• Uploading to a website or form that only accepts JPG/PNG.
• Sending to someone on Windows or Android who can't open HEIC.
• Editing in older software that doesn't recognise the format.
• Long-term archiving where you want maximum future compatibility.

When not to: if everything in your workflow already reads HEIC, keep it — you'll save space and quality. Converting to JPG re-encodes the image, so do it when you actually need the compatibility.

How to convert HEIC to JPG without uploading

Most "HEIC to JPG" websites upload your photos to a server. For holiday snaps that may be fine, but photos often carry GPS coordinates and timestamps in their metadata — you may not want those on a stranger's server. The private approach is to convert on your own device, and every major platform can already do it.

On the iPhone itself

• Take new photos as JPEG: Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible. Photos you take from then on are JPEG instead of HEIC.
• Convert when copying to a computer: Settings → Photos → Transfer to Mac or PC → Automatic converts photos to a compatible format as they are transferred.
• Convert individual photos: the built-in Shortcuts app has a Convert Image action that turns a photo into a JPEG on the phone.

On a Mac

• Preview: open the photo, choose File → Export, and pick JPEG as the format.
• Photos: select the photos, choose File → Export, and set the photo kind to JPEG.
• Terminal: sips -s format jpeg photo.heic --out photo.jpg converts a file with a tool built into macOS.

On Windows

Windows can open HEIC once Microsoft's HEIF Image Extensions and HEVC Video Extensions are installed from the Microsoft Store (the HEVC one is a paid add-on on many PCs). After that, open the photo in Paint and use Save as → JPEG picture.

A note on metadata

These exports usually keep the photo's metadata, including its location if it has one. KeepItLocally's tools don't read HEIC files directly, but once you have a JPG, the Image Converter can resize or recompress it in your browser — and because it re-encodes the pixels, the location and camera metadata are left behind. To turn a set of JPGs into one document, use Images to PDF.

HEIC vs JPG vs PNG — which should you pick?

• JPG — best all-round choice for photos you need to share or upload. Small and universal.
• PNG — better for screenshots, logos, or anything with sharp edges and text, and when you need transparency. Larger files.
• HEIC — keep it when you control the whole pipeline and want the smallest files.

If your goal is simply a smaller file rather than a different format, see our guide on compressing without losing quality — the same "shrink smartly, don't destroy" logic applies to images.