A HEIC converter turns iPhone HEIC photos into JPG, PNG, WebP or AVIF, formats that open on any device, site or app. Drop a whole camera roll batch at once. Part of the image converter.
Output format
– / –
Drop images or browse
JPEG · PNG · WEBP · AVIF · HEIC · up to 50 at once · max 30 MB each
A real result from this exact operation: 343 KB in, 267.4 KB out. Drop your own file and the meter reports yours. The left half is a preview render; the byte counts are the real files’.
Why will a HEIC file not open, and what does a converter fix?
The picture inside a HEIC is compressed with HEVC, the video codec Apple switched its photos to in 2017, and much software outside Apple’s cannot decode it: Windows needs a paid codec, Chrome, Edge and Firefox show nothing, and upload forms refuse the file. A HEIC converter decodes the photo once and writes it as a format the rest of the world opens. The photo is fine; the container is the problem. What the file holds, measured on a real iPhone photo, is in what is an HEIC file.
Every exit from HEIC, measured on one photo
Output
Size
vs the HEIC
Opens in
JPG, Auto
267.4 KB
78%
everything
JPG, quality 85
330 KB
96%
everything
PNG, quality 100 (lossless)
2896.1 KB
844%
everything
WebP, Auto
211.4 KB
62%
97% of browsers
AVIF, Auto
121.9 KB
36%
95% of browsers
PDF, one page
268.4 KB
78%
everything
Source: photo.heic, 343 KB, 1920×1280, our reference photo of an iguana on a branch, saved as HEIC on a Mac. Auto quality unless stated; the PDF is one A4 page through the image to PDF tool.
Every byte count is the size of the actual file our engine produced from the named source, the same bytes you would download, not an estimate. The reference photo is one of our own photographs, an iguana on a branch, and the camera photo is a real one too. Drop your own file into the tool above to rerun any of them. How we measure names the sources and the settings.
Which format to convert HEIC to: a decision in one paragraph
Going to a form, an email, a print shop, a Windows PC or anyone you cannot ask? Convert HEIC to JPG: 9% of the lossless PNG's size and it opens everywhere. Asked for PNG by name, or the picture is a screenshot, a scan or a graphic with text? Convert HEIC to PNG. Building a website? Convert HEIC to AVIF first and HEIC to WebP as the fallback. Need one document from several photos, under a size limit a portal states? That is HEIC to PDF, the image to PDF tool with HEIC in. Each page opens the converter on that pair.
How to open an HEIC file on Windows, Mac and Android
On a Mac, Preview and Photos open it; on an iPhone, everything does. On Windows 10 and 11, the Photos app needs the HEVC Video Extensions that Microsoft sells in its store, and even then many editors and browsers still refuse the file. On Android, recent Samsung and Pixel phones open it, older ones do not. The route that needs no viewer on any of them is the one above: convert to JPG or PNG and open that.
Do you need a HEIC viewer?
No. A HEIC viewer is a workaround for one machine; a converted copy works on every machine, and the people you send it to need nothing installed either.
How to stop the iPhone saving HEIC in the first place
Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible. New photos save as JPG and videos as H.264 from then on, at roughly twice the storage. The photos already in the library stay HEIC, which is what the batch above is for: 10 at a time, straight from the photo picker in Safari, no app. In Settings → Photos, Transfer to Mac or PC → Automatic makes the phone convert as it copies by cable.
The GPS in your iPhone photos, and what happens to it
Every iPhone photo carries the place it was taken, the time and the phone model in its EXIF block, and a converted copy would carry them too. We strip that block from every output by default; the EXIF remover shows exactly what is removed. The engine reads a HEIC as pixels only, so even the "Keep EXIF metadata" checkbox brings none of that block back: photographers who need the capture dates keep the original. The files themselves are wiped automatically after the conversion; we keep nothing.
When not to convert a HEIC
It is your only copy of an important photo?
Keep the HEIC as the master and convert copies. It is the original, at half the size of a JPG and a fifth of a PNG.
It only lives on Apple devices?
Then nothing is broken. Convert when a file has to leave that world: a form, a PC, a website, an email.
It is a Live Photo or a burst you want intact?
The still converts; the motion part is a separate video the converter does not touch. Export the video from Photos if you need it.
All HEIC conversions
Every route in and out runs on the same engine and the same rules. Each card is its own page.
Short answers specific to this page. The tool above settles most of them in a second.
Q:What does a HEIC converter do?
It decodes the photo inside a HEIC, the HEVC picture an iPhone saves in a HEIF container, and writes it again as a JPG, PNG, WebP, AVIF or PDF that opens where HEIC does not: on Windows without the paid codec, in Chrome, Edge and Firefox, and in upload forms. The HEIC stays on your device as the original.
Q:Do I need a HEIC viewer to see the photo?
Not once it is converted. A Mac, an iPhone and Safari 17 or later show HEIC directly; Windows needs Microsoft’s HEVC Video Extensions, sold for $0.99, and Chrome, Edge and Firefox show nothing at all. A JPG copy opens in every viewer, browser and form with no codec or app to install.
Q:Which format should I convert HEIC to?
JPG for a form, an email, a print shop or anything that must open everywhere (267.4 KB from our 343 KB reference photo at Auto quality). PNG when the destination asks for PNG or the picture is a screenshot or a graphic (2896.1 KB lossless). WebP or AVIF for a website (211.4 KB and 121.9 KB). Each pair has its own page below.
Q:Can I convert HEIC to PDF?
Yes. The image to PDF tool takes HEIC directly: one photo becomes one A4 page, several photos one document, and a hard size budget (under 100 KB, 200 KB, 500 KB, 1 MB) is available for forms that demand one. Our reference HEIC became a 268.4 KB one-page PDF.
Q:Should I keep the HEIC after converting it?
Yes, keep it as the master. Apple says HEIF keeps the same visual quality as JPEG in less storage, and every conversion should start from that original, not from an earlier copy. Convert a fresh JPG each time someone needs one; a JPG made from a JPG loses a little more detail with every save.
Q:Does converting a HEIC lose quality?
To PNG at quality 100, nothing further is lost: the PNG holds the decoded photo exactly. To JPG, WebP or AVIF, both formats are lossy, so a re-encode costs something in theory; at Auto quality the difference is invisible at normal viewing size. The compare slider shows your own photo before and after at 100% zoom.
Q:How do I stop my iPhone saving HEIC?
Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible. New photos are saved as JPG (and videos as H.264) from then on. Photos already taken stay HEIC; convert those here. The Transfer to Mac or PC setting in Settings → Photos makes the phone convert automatically when copying by cable.
Q:Does the converter take .heif files as well as .heic?
Yes. HEIF is the container and HEIC the kind with HEVC pictures inside, so files ending in .heic or .heif go through the same decoder here, identified by what is inside rather than by the name. A HEIF that holds several images in one file is declined with a clear message rather than silently reduced to the first.
Q:Can I convert many HEIC files at once?
Yes. Up to 10 files a batch, 30 MB each, one ZIP with the filenames kept, no signup and a 300-image daily allowance. A whole camera roll goes in one drop on a computer, or from the photo picker on the iPhone itself.
Q:Does the converted file keep the photo's EXIF and GPS data?
No. An iPhone photo carries the place it was taken, the time and the phone model, and the converted file carries none of it, which protects you when the file is posted. The engine reads a HEIC as pixels only, so even "Keep EXIF metadata" keeps nothing. Keep the original if you need the capture dates.
Q:Why does the preview show a tile instead of my photo?
Because Chrome, Edge and Firefox cannot display HEIC, so the tile stands in for the thumbnail; Safari 17 and later show the photo itself. The conversion is the same in every browser: the server decodes the HEIC in full, and the result shows as a normal image with its measured size beside it. Our editor does not open HEIC yet, so convert first, then crop or resize.
Q:Is it safe to upload my iPhone photos to the HEIC converter?
Yes. We keep nothing: files are processed and wiped automatically, never archived, never shared, never used to train anything. No account is needed, and the GPS location in your photos is stripped from every output by default.
