HEIC / HEIF: conversion steps
- Upload your HEIC / HEIF file to start.
- Convert HEIC / HEIF to JPEG.
- Download the HEIC / HEIF file.
About HEIC / HEIF files
the high-efficiency photo format that iPhones save by default
HEIC is the HEIF image container with HEVC (H.265) compression. Apple made it the iPhone's default photo format in iOS 11 in 2017, because it stores a photo in up to about half the size of a comparable JPEG.
Photos taken on iPhones and on some Android phones.
HEIC / HEIF: what conversion changes
Converting HEIC / HEIF re-encodes pixels.
HEIC / HEIF: settings to change
Before you convert HEIC / HEIF files, you can adjust: Width, Height, Scale fit, Crop position, Never enlarge, Quality, Lossless, Progressive, Remove metadata, Auto-orient from EXIF, Rotate, and Background.
Limits of the HEIC / HEIF format
Windows and many websites do not open HEIC without extra codecs, which is why it is usually converted to JPEG.
Common questions about HEIC / HEIF
Why do my iPhone photos turn into HEIC files, and why can’t my Windows PC open them? Apple saves space with the high-efficiency format, but Windows and many websites expect JPG — converting makes the photos shareable without extra codecs.
Can I open HEIC photos on Windows? Windows 10 and 11 need the HEIF Image Extensions (and the HEVC video extension for some files) from the Microsoft Store, while iPhone and Mac open HEIC natively. Converting to JPG is the usual fix for Windows and older Android apps.