HEIC to JPG

When Apple switched to HEIC as the default photo format on iPhones and iPads, it was a reasonable engineering decision. HEIC files are smaller than JPG while holding more detail, which makes a real difference when you are storing thousands of photos on a device. The problem is that HEIC does not travel well. Windows, many web platforms, photo labs, and older editing tools simply do not know what to do with it.

This converter solves that without any friction. Drop in your HEIC or HEIF files, adjust the settings you care about, and get back standard JPG files that work everywhere. No app download, no account, and no limit on how many times you use it.

Where HEIC Files Break Compatibility

Windows Photo Viewer and File Explorer cannot open HEIC files by default. Microsoft makes a codec available through the Microsoft Store, the HEVC Video Extensions, but it costs money, and most people have no idea it exists until they see a blank thumbnail staring back at them. That friction alone sends a lot of people searching for a converter.

Social platforms are inconsistent. Facebook and Instagram often reject HEIC uploads outright or display a broken preview instead of the photo. Most web upload forms have no HEIC handling at all, so the file just silently fails or shows an error that doesn't explain what's wrong. Converting to JPG first removes all of that guesswork.

Photo editing software has its own quirks. Lightroom Classic and older versions of Photoshop handle HEIC poorly or not at all without a plugin. Most browser-based editors don't support it either. If your workflow involves editing on a Windows machine or uploading to any online editor, JPG is the safe choice.

Print labs and photo kiosks universally require JPG. Whether you're ordering prints through a local drugstore kiosk or an online service like Shutterfly, HEIC simply isn't an accepted format. The same applies to most professional print labs. Sending HEIC to a lab either gets the order rejected or results in the lab converting it themselves, sometimes with quality settings you didn't choose.

Email and messaging are a partial exception. WhatsApp and iMessage usually handle HEIC between Apple devices, and some email clients convert inline automatically. But Outlook attachment previews can fail with HEIC, and if the recipient is on Windows without the codec installed, the attachment is essentially useless. JPG just works.

The Quality Slider: What 30 and 100 Actually Mean

JPG uses lossy compression, meaning every time you save a file as JPG, some data is permanently discarded. The quality setting (which runs from 30 to 100 here) controls how aggressively that compression is applied. It's a real trade-off, not just a preference slider.

At 100, the output file will be noticeably larger than the original HEIC. That's expected. HEIC uses a more efficient codec (based on the same technology as AV1), which means it can store more visual detail in fewer bytes than JPG can. When you convert to JPG at maximum quality, you're asking JPG to preserve that same detail, and JPG needs more space to do it. The result looks very close to the original, but it won't be identical.

Between 80 and 90, most people cannot see any meaningful difference from the original photo. Fine texture, colour gradients, and skin tones all hold up well. This is the sweet spot for the majority of uses: sharing with family, posting online, storing on a Windows machine, or sending to a client.

Below 70, the compression becomes visible. At 30 to 60, you'll start to see blocking in smooth areas, banding in gradients, and softness in fine detail like hair or fabric. File sizes drop significantly in this range, which matters if you're sending a large batch over email or uploading to a slow connection , but it comes at a real quality cost.

As a practical rule: if the photo is going to a print lab, stay above 85. For email attachments where file size matters, 70 to 80 is usually a reasonable compromise. For anything that will be displayed at full resolution or edited further, stay at 90 or above.

EXIF Data and Why You Might Want to Strip It

Every photo taken on an iPhone carries embedded EXIF metadata, a block of information attached to the image file that travels with it wherever it goes. That metadata typically includes the GPS coordinates where the photo was taken, the exact timestamp, the iPhone model, the lens and aperture used, and in some cases the device's serial number. None of this is visible in the photo itself, but anyone who knows how to read EXIF data can extract it from the file in seconds.

The tool has an option to strip EXIF before downloading. If you're posting a photo publicly, on a forum, a website, or a social platform that doesn't scrub metadata automatically, removing it beforehand means you're not inadvertently sharing your home address or the location of your child's school. The same applies when sending photos to people you don't know well.

EXIF is preserved by default, because for many photographers it's genuinely important. Location data helps with organising libraries by shoot location. Timestamps matter for culling and sorting. Camera settings help when reviewing what worked and what didn't. Stripping EXIF without being asked would break those workflows silently, so the choice stays with you.

For batch conversions, multiple files download together as a single ZIP archive. Each file inside is processed individually with the same quality and EXIF settings you selected, so the output is consistent across the whole batch. There's no need to repeat settings for each file.