HEIC to JPG

Why your photos are HEIC in the first place

Since iOS 11, iPhones save photos in HEIC (High Efficiency Image Container) by default. A HEIC photo takes roughly half the space of the same shot as JPG, which is why Apple chose it. The catch is that a lot of software outside Apple’s world still doesn’t read it: older Windows installs, many web forms, some printers’ kiosks and plenty of work systems.

On Windows 10 and 11, the Photos app can open HEIC only after you install the HEIF Image Extensions from the Microsoft Store, and some photos also need the separate HEVC codec. On a work laptop where you can’t install things, converting is often simpler.

Stop your iPhone saving HEIC

There are two settings, depending on what you want:

• Always shoot JPG: Settings › Camera › Formats › Most Compatible. New photos are saved as JPG from then on, at the cost of more storage.
• Keep HEIC on the phone, get JPG on the computer: Settings › Photos › Transfer to Mac or PC › Automatic. Photos are converted when copied over a cable. Some Windows 11 users find this stops working and the files arrive as HEIC anyway, which is when this page helps.

Neither setting changes photos you have already taken.

What changes in the converted file

JPG is a lossy format, so the quality slider decides the trade-off between file size and detail. At 85, the default, differences from the original are very hard to see. Raise it to 92 or more for photos you plan to print or edit further.

The JPG does not carry over the photo’s metadata. That means no camera details, no capture time and, importantly for documents and home photos, no GPS location. If you need the date preserved for sorting, keep the originals as well.

A Live Photo is a still image plus a short video. Only the still is converted. Portrait mode depth data and HDR gain maps are dropped too, so a bright HDR shot can look slightly flatter as JPG.

Questions