At a glance
| Input | HEIC, HEIF — the format an iPhone photographs in |
|---|---|
| Output | JPG or PNG |
| Quality | 50 to 100, default 90 |
| Files at once | Many; download them together as a ZIP |
| Where it runs | Entirely in your browser — no file is uploaded to a server |
| Price | Free, with no account and no sign-up |
| Offline | Works with no connection after the first visit |
Why your photos are HEIC at all
Since iOS 11 an iPhone saves photographs as HEIC by default, because it holds roughly the same picture in about half the space of a JPG. The trouble starts the moment the file leaves the phone: Windows needs a paid codec, plenty of web forms reject the extension outright, and older Android builds show nothing at all.
Converting to JPG trades that space saving for a file everything on earth can open.
What survives the conversion
The picture itself comes across at full resolution. What does not is the extra material HEIC can carry: the depth map behind Portrait mode, any Live Photo video, and — in a burst or a multi-image HEIC — every frame but the first.
Location and camera metadata are dropped, which is usually what you want when a photo is going to a stranger. If you need to check what a file is carrying before you send it, the EXIF viewer shows it.
Stopping it happening again
On the phone: Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible makes new photographs JPG straight away. Existing ones stay HEIC. There is also Settings → Photos → Transfer to Mac or PC → Automatic, which converts on the way out of the phone.
Frequently asked questions
Why will my computer not open a HEIC file?
Windows needs the HEIF Image Extensions from the Microsoft Store, and on some machines that is a paid add-on. macOS and iOS handle it natively. Converting to JPG sidesteps the question entirely.
Does converting lose quality?
A little, once. HEIC is already a lossy format and JPG is another, so the picture is re-encoded. At the default quality the difference is not visible at normal viewing size; the file will be roughly twice as big as the HEIC.
What happens to Live Photos and Portrait mode?
You get the still image. The short video attached to a Live Photo and the depth map that lets Portrait mode adjust the blur are not part of a JPG, so both are left behind.
Are my photos uploaded to a server?
No. Decoding happens in your browser, which is worth knowing given how much of a camera roll is family and documents. Nothing is transmitted and nothing is stored.
Can I convert a whole folder?
Yes — drop as many as you like and take them back as a zip. They are processed one at a time so a large batch does not run the tab out of memory.
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