How to convert
Drag your .heic files onto the box or click to browse. Select as many as you like.
Pick JPG for photographs, which is almost always what you want, or PNG if you need lossless output.
For JPG, the quality slider sits around 80 to 90 for a result nobody can distinguish from the original at a much smaller size.
Convert, then download individually or grab the ZIP.
Stop the problem at source
Before converting another batch, it is worth knowing you can switch your iPhone to shoot JPG directly.
Go to Settings, then Camera, then Formats. You get two options. High Efficiency is the default and produces HEIC files. Most Compatible produces JPEG instead, and H.264 for video rather than HEVC.
Switch to Most Compatible and the problem disappears for every photo you take from that point on. Nothing to convert, nothing to think about when you send a picture to someone on Windows.
The trade is storage. HEIC files run roughly half the size of an equivalent JPEG at matching visual quality, so shooting JPEG fills your phone faster. On a 256 GB phone that rarely matters. On a 64 GB phone already stuffed with photos, it might, and only you know which of those you are living with.
Existing photos stay HEIC either way. The setting only touches new ones, which is exactly what this converter is for.
There is a third behaviour worth knowing about, because it explains why some people never notice HEIC at all. When you AirDrop or share a photo directly from the Photos app to something that cannot read HEIC, iOS often converts it to JPEG on the way out without telling you. That is why a photo can arrive fine over AirDrop and then refuse to open when the same file is pulled off the phone with a cable. Same picture, two different formats, depending entirely on the route it took. If you have been getting inconsistent results, that is usually the reason rather than anything wrong with the files themselves.
Why Windows cannot open HEIC
This catches people out because the file looks like it should just work.
Windows does not ship with HEIC support built in.
You can add it, though the arrangement is odd. The HEIF Image Extensions package is free on the Microsoft Store, and it depends on HEVC Video Extensions, which costs $0.99. So viewing a photo your own phone took means buying a video codec.
That is genuinely the situation, and it is why converting to JPG usually beats fixing the machine. Especially when you are sending photos to someone else, whose machine you cannot fix anyway.
Android varies by version and manufacturer. Most current phones open HEIC fine. Older ones do not.
What HEIC holds that JPG cannot
HEIC is a container, and it can carry more than one image plus extra data alongside them.
A Live Photo is a HEIC still paired with a short MOV video. Converting gives you the still. The motion lives in a separate file this tool never touches.
Portrait mode photos carry a depth map. That map is what lets your phone re-adjust background blur weeks after the shot. JPG has nowhere to store it, so whatever blur was rendered at the moment you convert becomes permanent, and the slider that used to change it stops meaning anything.
Burst sequences can sit inside a single HEIC. Conversion takes the main image.
None of that is a reason to avoid converting. It is a reason to keep your originals instead of deleting them once the JPGs exist, because depth data and Live Photo motion cannot be pulled back out of a JPG afterwards.
JPG or PNG
JPG for photographs, every time.
It is lossy, and on a camera photo that loss is invisible while the file lands several times smaller. PNG belongs with screenshots, graphics, flat colour, sharp edges, and anything needing transparency. Point it at a photograph and you get an enormous file for no visible benefit at all.
HEIC photos are nearly always camera pictures, so JPG is the answer unless you have a specific reason otherwise.
Frequently asked questions
How do I stop my iPhone making HEIC files?
Settings, then Camera, then Formats, then choose Most Compatible. New photos save as JPEG. Existing ones stay as they are.
Why will Windows not open my HEIC files?
Windows has no built-in support. The free HEIF Image Extensions package depends on HEVC Video Extensions, which costs $0.99, so opening an iPhone photo means buying a video codec.
Does it work with Live Photos and bursts?
Yes, and it converts the main still image. The motion part of a Live Photo is a separate MOV file and is not included.
Will I lose portrait mode background blur?
The blur stays as rendered, but the depth map behind it does not survive. You cannot re-adjust the blur afterwards, so keep your originals.
Can I convert many files at once?
Yes. Add as many as you like and take them individually or as one ZIP.
Should I choose JPG or PNG?
JPG for photographs, which is what HEIC files almost always are. PNG only if you need lossless output or transparency.
Related: compress the converted photos · resize them · strip location data · other format conversions.