UtilityKit

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HEIC to JPG

Convert iPhone HEIC photos to JPG

About HEIC to JPG

Apple's HEIC photo format saves storage — roughly half the bytes of an equivalent JPG. The trade-off is compatibility: Windows needs a paid codec, Android has no native support, and most marketplaces and email clients reject HEIC uploads or display a broken image. This tool decodes your HEIC files using a browser-native WebAssembly build of libheif and re-encodes them as JPG entirely in your tab — no server, no upload. Quality defaults to 92, producing output visually identical to the source. An optional EXIF strip removes GPS coordinates, camera serial, and timestamps before sharing. Batch mode handles up to 20 files at once with a ZIP download, making it practical for converting a full vacation album without changing your iPhone camera settings.

Why use HEIC to JPG

Universal JPG Output

Every browser, operating system, email client, and content management system reads JPG natively. Converting HEIC to JPG eliminates the 'this format isn't supported' message that appears when sharing iPhone photos with Windows PCs, Android phones, online marketplaces, and any platform that predates HEIC support.

Visually Identical Conversion

Default quality 92 produces a JPG that is visually indistinguishable from the HEIC source under normal viewing conditions. The conversion uses libheif for accurate colour decoding and libjpeg-compatible encoding, so skin tones, shadows, and HDR highlights are faithfully preserved in the output file.

Batch Up to 20 Files

Drop an entire vacation album in HEIC format and convert every file in one operation. A Download All button packages every converted JPG into a single ZIP, so you get a clean, universally compatible folder rather than downloading files one at a time.

Preserves Original Resolution

A 4032×3024 HEIC from an iPhone stays at 4032×3024 in the converted JPG — there is no surprise downscaling to a web-friendly size or automatic quality cap. Your full-resolution photo is preserved for printing, cropping, and editing workflows downstream without any dimension changes.

Strips EXIF Optionally

Toggling EXIF removal before conversion strips GPS coordinates, camera serial numbers, photo timestamps, and device identifiers during the re-encode. This is a convenient privacy step when sharing photos publicly on social media, in press materials, or on any platform where metadata could reveal location.

100% Browser-Local

Photos are decoded and re-encoded inside your browser tab via a WASM build of libheif — they never leave your device. High-resolution personal photos, sensitive locations captured in EXIF, and unreleased product shots all stay completely private throughout the conversion.

How to use HEIC to JPG

  1. Drop one or more .heic or .heif files onto the upload area, or click to browse your iPhone, desktop, or email attachment.
  2. Set the output JPG quality — 92 is the default and produces output visually indistinguishable from the HEIC original.
  3. Toggle EXIF removal if you want to strip GPS location, camera serial, and timestamp metadata before sharing.
  4. Click Convert — the browser decodes each file using a WASM build of libheif and re-encodes as JPG in your tab.
  5. Preview the converted JPG alongside the original to confirm quality and check that colours look correct.
  6. Download a single JPG or click Download All to receive a ZIP containing all converted files.

When to use HEIC to JPG

  • Sending iPhone photos to a Windows PC user or Android recipient who gets a broken-image icon instead of the photo.
  • Uploading product photos to an ecommerce marketplace like Etsy, Shopify, or Amazon that rejects HEIC file uploads.
  • Attaching photos to an email when the recipient's client doesn't support HEIC inline display or attachment preview.
  • Submitting photos to a school, government, or press portal that specifies JPG as the required format.
  • Converting a received HEIC file attachment you cannot open in your current photo viewing or editing application.
  • Preparing a batch of iPhone photos for printing at a lab that requires JPG or doesn't accept HEIC files.

Examples

iPhone photo → JPG

Input: IMG_0042.HEIC: 4032×3024, 1.8 MB

Output: Converted: 4032×3024 JPG, 3.2 MB, quality 92 — universal support

Burst photo album

Input: 20 HEIC files, ~2 MB each

Output: ZIP of 20 JPGs, ~64 MB total, quality 90 — ready for email or upload

Lower quality for email

Input: HEIC: 4032×3024, 1.5 MB

Output: JPG: 4032×3024, 800 KB, quality 75 — fits 25 MB email attachment limits when batched

Tips

  • HEIC is roughly half the size of JPG at the same quality — expect the converted JPG to be about 2x larger in bytes, not because quality was added but because JPG is a less efficient codec.
  • Set quality to 92 for visually identical output; drop to 80 for email-friendly batches where the attachment size limit matters more than pixel-level fidelity.
  • Toggle EXIF stripping when the photos are going public — HEIC carries GPS, camera serial, and timestamp metadata just like JPG does, and that data travels with the file.
  • To prevent HEIC files in future, go to Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible on your iPhone — new photos will save as JPG natively.
  • For HEIF videos (.heif, .heic video variants from Live Photos), use a dedicated video converter — this tool handles still image frames only.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my iPhone save photos as HEIC instead of JPG?▾
Apple switched the default camera format to HEIC in iOS 11 because it achieves roughly half the file size of JPG at equivalent visual quality, letting iPhones store more photos without upgrading storage. You can switch back to JPG by going to Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible, but you will trade storage efficiency for universal compatibility.
Will I lose photo quality converting HEIC to JPG?▾
At quality 92, the converted JPG is visually indistinguishable from the HEIC source under normal viewing conditions. Both formats use lossy compression, so conversion involves a second encode step that can introduce very subtle artefacts — but these are not visible at quality 85 or above. Only drop below 80 if file size is a hard constraint.
Why are my JPGs bigger than the original HEIC files?▾
HEIC compression is significantly more efficient than JPG. A HEIC file is typically 40-50% smaller than an equivalent JPG at the same visual quality, so conversion almost always produces a larger file. This is expected — you are trading storage efficiency for universal compatibility.
Can I convert multiple HEIC files at once?▾
Yes. The batch upload accepts up to 20 files at once. After conversion, a Download All button packages every JPG into a single ZIP file. Each file is converted sequentially in the browser so the page stays responsive during large batches.
Will conversion remove GPS data from my photos?▾
Not automatically. You must toggle the EXIF strip option before converting. When enabled, GPS coordinates, camera serial number, and timestamp metadata are removed during the re-encode. When disabled (the default), EXIF data is preserved in the output JPG.
Are my photos uploaded to your server?▾
No. Conversion uses a WebAssembly build of libheif that runs entirely in your browser tab. Your photos are decoded and re-encoded locally — they are never sent to UtilityKit's servers or any third-party service. This is true even for high-resolution personal photos.
How do I stop my iPhone from saving in HEIC?▾
Go to Settings → Camera → Formats and tap Most Compatible. This switches both new photos and videos to JPG and H.264 respectively. Note that existing HEIC photos in your library are not retroactively converted — only new captures use JPG.
Does this work for HEIF videos too?▾
No. This tool handles HEIC still images only. HEIF-encapsulated video (.mov with HEVC encoding) requires a video converter. If you send a .heic file that is actually a Live Photo's video component, the tool will report an unsupported format error.

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Glossary

HEIC / HEIF
High Efficiency Image Container/Format — Apple's default iPhone photo format since iOS 11. It uses the HEVC video codec for still image compression, achieving roughly half the file size of JPG at equivalent visual quality, but lacks native support on Windows and Android without third-party codecs.
libheif
An open-source C library for reading and writing HEIC/HEIF files, developed by the same team behind the reference HEVC implementation. This tool uses a WebAssembly build of libheif to decode HEIC files entirely inside the browser without a server-side installation.
Apple Photos format
The term sometimes used informally for HEIC, since Apple adopted it as the default capture format across all iPhones and iPads in 2017. It is not Apple's proprietary invention — it is a standardised container format from the MPEG standards body.
JPG / JPEG
Joint Photographic Experts Group — the most universally supported lossy image format, introduced in 1992. Every operating system, browser, camera, printer, and web platform can read JPG files natively, making it the safe choice when compatibility matters more than file size efficiency.
Universal compatibility
The ability of a file format to be opened by any device, operating system, or application without installing extra codecs or plugins. JPG achieved near-universal compatibility in the early 2000s; HEIC is still working toward it in 2025.
Conversion quality
A 1-100 value controlling how aggressively the output JPG is compressed. Higher quality values preserve more image detail at the cost of larger file sizes. Quality 92 is visually lossless for most photography; quality 75 is suitable for web and email attachments.