How to Convert HEIC to JPG

Check your browser before you start

Most HEIC trouble comes from one fact: a converter that runs in the browser can only read what the browser can read. The page contains no HEIC code. It hands the file to the browser, and the browser hands it to the operating system. Safari on iPhone, iPad and Mac can do that from version 17 onward; Apple announced HEIC support for Safari 17 at WWDC 2023. Chrome, Firefox and Edge on Windows, and browsers on Android, generally cannot, and Chrome on a Mac is a separate program from Safari, so do not assume it shares Safari's ability.

So the quickest test costs nothing. Open the converter in Safari, add one HEIC photo, and see whether a thumbnail appears. If it does, you can convert the whole batch. If the page says the file could not be opened, your browser has no HEIC support, and no setting on the page will change that.

The iOS and macOS version matters too. Safari 17 shipped with iOS 17, iPadOS 17 and macOS Sonoma, and Apple also released Safari 17 for some earlier macOS versions. If your Safari is older than 17, update it first through the system update screen.

Convert a HEIC photo to JPG in six steps

1. Open Safari (version 17 or newer) and load the converter page.
2. Get the photos to the device you are using. On an iPhone you can pick from your library through the file picker; on a Mac, drag the .heic files from Finder or from the folder where you imported them.
3. Wait for the thumbnails. Each photo shows its original size and, a moment later, its converted size.
4. Leave the output format on JPEG. If you want a smaller file, lower the quality slider a little; the default of 90 is a good starting point.
5. If the photos are going to a form or an email that has a size limit, choose a smaller value in the maximum size menu, for example 1920 pixels on the longest side. Photos are only ever made smaller, never enlarged.
6. Download single files, or all of them as one ZIP if you converted several. Check one of the results by opening it before you delete anything on the phone.

The photo's rotation is applied during conversion, so a portrait shot stays upright. Location and camera data are not carried into the JPG.

What a 12 or 48 megapixel photo turns into

JPG stores the same pixels, so the dimensions stay the same unless you choose a smaller maximum size. A standard iPhone photo of 4032 x 3024 pixels is 12.2 megapixels (4032 x 3024 = 12,192,768). That is well inside what a browser can handle, so it keeps its full size.

Some newer iPhones can also save 48 megapixel photos, for example 8064 x 6048, which is 48.8 megapixels. Browsers limit how large an image they will process at once, and the converter scales anything above about 16.8 megapixels down to fit. Scaling that 48.8 megapixel frame to 16.8 megapixels multiplies each side by about 0.587, giving roughly 4729 x 3547 pixels. That is still far larger than any screen needs, but if you plan to print at a large size, know that the result is not the full 8064 x 6048. The reasons for the cap are in the article on how browser-based conversion works.

File size is the other surprise. HEIC compresses more efficiently than JPG, so the JPG made from it is usually larger, even though no pixels were added. Expect growth, not shrinkage, unless you also lower the quality or the maximum size.

When the file will not open

Work through these causes in order; they are listed from most to least common.

• You are not in Safari. This is the usual cause. Chrome, Firefox and Edge cannot decode HEIC, and the converter then reports that it could not open that file. Switch to Safari on an Apple device.
• Safari is older than 17. Update the system, then try again.
• The file only looks like HEIC. Renaming IMG_1234.HEIC to IMG_1234.JPG changes the label, not the content, and a program that expects real JPEG data will still fail on it. If a file named .jpg opens in some programs but not others, it may be a renamed HEIC.
• The download is incomplete. A transfer that stopped halfway leaves a file that no decoder can read. Copy it again from the source.
• The file is a different HEIF variant. The container can hold other kinds of image data than the iPhone camera writes. If only one file in a batch fails and the rest work, this is a likely reason; the failure is reported per file and does not stop the others.

A burst of ten photos does not mean ten problems. The converter handles each file on its own, so successes are downloadable even while one file shows an error.

If you are on Windows, Android or a non-Safari browser

Because the decoder is missing in your browser, there is no trick on the converter page that will work. Your realistic options are to move the problem to the place where the photo was taken, or to move the photo to an Apple device.

• Fix it at the source. iPhones can be set to take new photos as JPEG so the issue does not come back. The setting and its trade-offs are in iPhone photo formats: HEIC, JPEG and settings. It only affects photos taken afterward.
• Use an Apple device for the one-off. If you have access to an iPhone, iPad or Mac, open the converter in Safari there and download the JPG files, then send them to your PC.
• Ask the sender for JPG. If someone mailed you HEIC files, asking them to resend as JPG, or to use the most compatible camera setting, is often faster than any workaround.

The built-in tools that ship with Windows, Mac and Android differ between versions and get changed often, so they are compared separately in the article on built-in ways to convert images rather than promised here.

Pick JPG or PNG for the result

The converter also offers PNG, and a decision rule keeps you from picking it by mistake. HEIC from a camera is a photograph, and photographs compress well as JPG. Converting a photo to PNG keeps every pixel exactly as decoded but typically produces a file several times larger than the JPG, with no visible gain. Choose JPG for anything you will email, upload to a form, or post. Choose PNG only if you plan to edit the picture further and want to avoid adding a second round of lossy compression, or if a program insists on PNG.

If the main point of converting is compatibility, think about what the other end needs. Most websites, printers and office programs accept JPG without complaint; the comparison of HEIC and JPEG lists where HEIC still causes trouble. That is a reason to convert early, before you are at an upload form with a deadline.