How it works
How to convert HEIC files
- 01
Pick a format
Choose JPG, PNG or PDF. JPG is selected to start with and suits most photos.
- 02
Add your HEIC files
Drop .heic or .heif photos into the box, or tap it to choose them, then click Convert all.
- 03
Download
Save each file on its own or the whole batch as a .zip. Nothing was uploaded.
To convert a HEIC file, choose what you want out of it above (JPG, PNG or PDF), then drop your photos into the box or tap it to pick them. Click Convert all, and download each file on its own or the whole batch as one .zip. Files ending in .heif go in the same way; they're the same format under a different name.
JPG is selected to start with, because it's the answer for most people: every phone, computer, website and printer opens a JPG. A quality slider sets the trade between file size and detail, and 85% is a sensible default. Switch to PNG when the image is going to be edited further and you don't want any extra compression on top of what the camera did. Switch to PDF when a form or portal asks for a document; each photo becomes a one-page PDF at its full resolution.
The work happens in your browser tab. A WebAssembly build of libheif, the open source HEIF decoder, unpacks each photo in a background worker, and the result is encoded on your device. Your photos never go to a server, so it's as safe for a passport scan as for a holiday picture.
Prefer a page set up for one format from the start? Use the dedicated HEIC to JPG converter, HEIC to PNG or HEIC to PDF page.
How to open a HEIC file on Windows
Windows 10 and 11 can show HEIC photos in the Photos app, but only after two add-ons from the Microsoft Store: HEIF Image Extensions (free) and HEVC Video Extensions (a small fee for most PCs). Without them, Photos asks you to install them or shows nothing. If you just need the pictures as JPGs, converting them here skips the Store entirely.
How to open a HEIC file on a Mac
Macs have read HEIC since macOS High Sierra. Double-click the file and it opens in Preview. To save a copy in another format, choose File, then Export, and pick JPEG or PNG. That's quick for one photo; for a folder of them, this page converts the lot in one go.
How to open HEIC files on Android
Android 9 and later can open HEIC, and Google Photos shows them fine. Older phones and many third-party apps can't. If an app won't take the photo, convert it here in Chrome and use the JPG instead.
How to stop your iPhone saving photos as HEIC
Open Settings, tap Camera, then Formats, and choose Most Compatible. New photos are saved as JPG from then on, and they take up more space. Photos you already have stay HEIC. There's a middle option too: in Settings, Photos, set Transfer to Mac or PC to Automatic, and the iPhone hands over JPGs when you copy photos to a computer by cable.
When you need this
A website rejects your photo
Job portals, marketplaces and government forms often list JPG and PNG as the only accepted image types. A .heic from your iPhone gets refused or quietly fails to upload.
Photos copied to a Windows PC
Photos pulled off an iPhone onto a Windows laptop or a USB stick often show up as blank icons that won't open. Converting them once means they open everywhere after that.
Sending pictures to anyone
Not everybody you email has a recent Apple device. A JPG opens on an old Android phone, a work PC and a smart TV, so the person on the other end never has to ask what a HEIC is.
Printing or filing as a document
A print shop or an office that wants a PDF, a receipt for an expense claim, a signed page you photographed: switch the output to PDF and each photo comes out as a document.
Worked example
Say you've AirDropped 20 holiday photos to a friend's Windows laptop, and none of them open. They're HEIC, and the laptop doesn't have Microsoft's add-ons installed.
Open this page on the laptop, leave the output on JPG at 85%, and drop all 20 files into the box. Click Convert all. Each photo shows its own progress row, and a recent laptop gets through a typical 12 megapixel iPhone photo in a second or two. When they're done, "Download all as .zip" gives you one file with 20 JPGs inside, ready to open, print or upload.
If two of those photos are actually receipts for a refund claim, select PDF and drop those two in again. Each one becomes a single-page PDF at the photo's full size.
Format explainer
HEIC is the format your iPhone uses for photos by default, and has done since iOS 11 in 2017. The name stands for High Efficiency Image Container, and the point of it is size: a HEIC photo takes roughly half the space of a JPG that looks the same. That adds up fast on a phone with thousands of pictures.
The catch is support. Apple devices open HEIC without a second thought, but plenty of other software still doesn't, which is the whole reason a HEIC converter exists.
What is a HEIC file?
A file with the .heic extension is a photo stored in the HEIF format, with the picture compressed using HEVC (also called H.265), the same codec used for 4K video. One HEIC file can hold more than a single image: the main photo, a small thumbnail, a depth map from Portrait mode, or several frames from a burst. It also carries the usual EXIF details, like the date, the camera settings and often the location.
This converter always takes the main photo from the file. The extra layers and the EXIF data aren't carried over to the JPG, PNG or PDF, which is handy if you'd rather not share where a picture was taken.
HEIC vs HEIF: what's the difference?
HEIF (High Efficiency Image File Format) is the standard, a container for images. HEIC is a HEIF file whose images are compressed with HEVC, and it's the version Apple uses. In practice you'll see .heic on iPhone photos and .heif from some Android phones and cameras. This tool takes both.
HEIF can hold other codecs too. An AVIF image is a HEIF file compressed with AV1 instead, and it has its own AVIF to JPG converter.
HEIC vs JPG
HEIC wins on size and on what it can store: smaller files, 10-bit color for HDR photos, transparency, and several images in one file. JPG wins on compatibility, by a mile. It has been around since 1992 and opens on essentially everything.
So keep your originals as HEIC if they live in Apple Photos or iCloud, and convert copies to JPG whenever they're leaving that world: uploads, email, printing, Windows. Converting does cost a little. JPG compresses the photo a second time, and HDR highlights are flattened to standard range.
Frequently asked questions
A tool that turns HEIC photos, the format iPhones save by default, into a format other devices can open. This one converts HEIC and HEIF files to JPG, PNG or PDF, right in your browser.
Pick JPG, PNG or PDF at the top of this page, drop your .heic files into the box, and click Convert all. Then download them one by one or all together as a .zip. It works on iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows and Chromebook.
JPG for almost everything: sharing, uploading, email. PNG if you plan to edit the image and want no extra compression, though the file will be several times bigger. PDF when someone asks for a document rather than a picture.
Yes. Drop in as many as you like and they convert one after another, each with its own status. The tool sets no limit; a very large batch is limited only by your device's memory.
No. Decoding and encoding both run on your own device, inside the browser tab. You can check in your browser's developer tools: the Network tab shows no request carrying your photos.
Close enough that it doesn't matter here. HEIF is the container format and HEIC is the HEVC flavor of it that iPhones use. Both extensions are accepted.
PNG and PDF keep every decoded pixel. JPG compresses again, but at 85% you won't see the difference at normal viewing sizes. HDR photos do come out in standard range, since JPG and PNG here are 8 bits per channel.
Usually it isn't really a HEIC: a JPG or a video that was renamed, or a file that only partly downloaded. The tool checks the content and tells you which file it skipped. Live Photo videos (.mov) aren't images, so they aren't accepted either.
Related pages
- Image to PDF converter
Pick this instead when you want several JPG or PNG pictures combined into one multi-page PDF.
- JFIF to JPG converter
Pick this instead when the stubborn file ends in .jfif, usually an image saved from a web browser.
- AVIF to JPG converter
Pick this instead when your photo is an .avif, the newer HEIF-based format used by some apps and websites.