Convert HEIC to JPG

Chrome and Firefox don't ship a HEIC decoder, so the converter above can't open the file here. That's a browser limitation, not a bug in the tool — here's what actually works instead.

Why can't I use the tool here?

HEIC decoding relies on a licensed video codec (HEVC) that Chrome and Firefox don't ship, for patent-licensing reasons that are out of img-compress's control. Two ways around it:

iPhoneExport straight from Photos

Open the photo on the iPhone that took it, tap Share → Save to Files, and iOS offers a JPEG copy. To stop this from happening again, go to Settings → Camera → Formats and switch to "Most Compatible."

Mac / iPhoneOpen this page in Safari

Safari can decode HEIC natively — visit this same page there and the converter above will work directly, no extra steps.

Why does this only work in Safari?

HEIC photos are compressed with HEVC, a newer video codec with licensing split across several patent pools. Apple already pays for it system-wide on macOS and iOS, so Safari gets HEIC decoding for free. Chrome and Firefox would have to license it separately just for this one format, and neither has — which is also why img-compress doesn't ship its own decoder: there isn't a legally clean one to bundle.

The good news is you only need Safari once per photo. After that, the file is a normal JPG that opens anywhere, on any browser or device.

Why won't my iPhone photos upload? →How to open a HEIC file on Windows →

Where a JPG will actually open

Converting HEIC to JPG costs you file size. The JPG usually lands 30-50% larger than the HEIC it came from, because HEIC uses a much newer compression method. That isn't the conversion going wrong — it's the price of the trade, and the trade is normally worth making.

What you buy is that the file stops being a problem. HEIC is an Apple default the rest of the world largely never adopted, so a photo that looks perfectly fine on the phone that took it can be unopenable, unuploadable, or simply invisible everywhere else.

Windows, with no HEIF or HEVC extensions installed
Upload forms that reject a .heic file outright
Email attachments a recipient on Android or Windows can actually open
Older photo editors, print services and CMS platforms

Why the JPG comes out bigger

HEIC compresses with HEVC, a video codec from 2013; JPG's compression dates from 1992. Three decades of research sit between them, and it shows in the file size — the same photo at the same visual quality is simply smaller as a HEIC.

So converting is a step backwards in efficiency and forwards in compatibility. If storage is what you care about, keep the HEIC originals and convert only the copies you actually need to send somewhere.

Stopping this at the source

If you keep hitting the problem, the iPhone can stop producing HEIC entirely: Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible. From then on the camera writes JPG directly and there's nothing to convert.

The tradeoff is that every photo you take afterwards is larger for the same quality. Plenty of people make that trade knowingly; it's worth knowing you're making it.

FAQ

Is it safe to convert personal photos this way?

Yes — nothing is uploaded at any point. The HEIC file is read and converted directly in your browser's memory, and the JPG never touches a server before you download it.

Will the JPG look any different from the original HEIC?

Practically no. HEIC and JPG are both lossy formats, so converting between them is a straightforward re-encode — at the default quality setting, it's not a difference you'll notice at normal viewing size.