Your iPhone takes photos in HEIC by default. Most apps can't open them. Here are five reliable ways to convert HEIC to JPG — including one that doesn't upload your photos anywhere.
HEIC is a great format. It cuts file size roughly in half compared to JPG at the same quality, which is why Apple switched to it as the default for iPhone photos in 2017. The problem is everything outside Apple's ecosystem.
Windows can technically read HEIC files but only with a specific codec installed. Most photo editors don't support HEIC. Many websites reject HEIC uploads. Email clients show "unsupported file type". This article covers the practical options for getting HEIC photos into a format that just works.
Web-based converters that run entirely in your browser are the simplest path. You open a page, drop your HEIC files, get JPG files back. No installs, no uploads to a server, no waiting for processing on someone else's machine.
Pictoolkit's HEIC to JPG converter does this — the conversion happens entirely on your device using a WebAssembly decoder. Your photos never leave your browser. It handles batch conversion (drop a folder of 100 files at once) and lets you control output quality.
This is the right choice for occasional conversions, when you don't want to install anything, or when you care about privacy. Some HEIC photos contain GPS coordinates of where they were taken — uploading them to a third-party server reveals location data.
If you're tired of converting HEIC files repeatedly, just tell your iPhone to use JPG. On the iPhone:
From this point on, the camera will save photos as JPG. Existing HEIC photos in your library stay as HEIC, but new ones will be JPG.
The trade-off: JPG files are roughly twice as large as HEIC for the same quality. If you take a lot of photos, your storage will fill faster. For most people, this is a fine trade for the convenience.
If you're sending HEIC photos from your iPhone to a Mac, your Mac can open them natively. macOS has supported HEIC since High Sierra (2017). You can open them in Preview, save as JPG via File → Export..., and pick "JPEG" as the format.
For batch conversion: select all the HEIC files in Finder, right-click, choose Quick Actions → Convert Image. Pick JPEG, choose a quality, done.
If you're sending photos from your iPhone to a non-Apple device or service, the conversion is one-way and quality preservation is automatic when you pick a high quality setting.
Windows 10 and 11 can display HEIC files in Photos and File Explorer thumbnails, but only after installing a codec. Microsoft sells the HEIF Image Extensions in the Microsoft Store, but there's also a free version that ships with Windows for personal HEIC support.
To enable HEIC viewing on Windows:
This lets you view HEIC files. Converting them is a separate problem — you still need a tool for that. The Windows Photos app can save HEIC as JPG via the export menu, but it's one-by-one. For batch conversion, you'll need something else.
For high-volume work, a desktop app is worth the install. Free options that work well:
magick input.heic output.jpg is all it takes.HEIC stores image data in a way that survives one conversion to JPG without visible loss, as long as you pick a reasonable quality setting (80-90). The transcode does involve a re-compression step, since HEIC and JPG use different compression algorithms — but at high quality settings, the visual difference is imperceptible.
Where it matters: if you plan to do multiple conversions (HEIC → JPG → some edit → re-save as JPG), each round loses a little more quality. Start from the HEIC original each time rather than chaining JPG saves.
For most people, the browser approach is the right starting point. No install, no upload, no learning curve. It just works.
Try pictoolkit's HEIC to JPG converter. Drop one file or a hundred — they're converted on your device in seconds, never uploaded anywhere.