HEIC Converter — HEIC to JPG, PNG and WebP (Free, Batch)
Convert HEIC photos from your iPhone to JPG, PNG or WebP for free. Drop several files at once for batch conversion and download them together as a ZIP. Everything runs inside your browser, so your photos are never uploaded to a server.
Choosing an output format
| Format | Characteristics | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| JPG (JPEG) | Lossy compression. Opens in virtually every application and service. | Sharing photos, pasting into documents, print submissions |
| PNG | Lossless, so nothing degrades. Files are correspondingly larger. | Archiving without quality loss, diagrams and screenshots |
| WebP | A newer format that usually beats JPG on size. Supported by all major browsers. | Publishing on the web where load speed matters |
What is HEIC conversion?
HEIC is the format iPhones and iPads use to store photos. It holds roughly the same quality as JPG in about half the file size, and Apple has used it by default since iOS 11 in 2017. Support elsewhere is still patchy, though: Windows Photos, older image editors and plenty of web services will not open the files.
This tool converts those HEIC files into the widely supported JPG, PNG and WebP formats. Drop several files at once and they are converted in one go, ready to download together as a ZIP. The conversion runs entirely in your browser, so nothing is uploaded anywhere.
How to convert HEIC files
- Load the HEIC files Drag them onto the dashed area, or click it to pick files. Selecting several at once is fine.
- Pick an output format Choose JPG if you are unsure; it opens everywhere. WebP suits the web, and PNG suits cases where you want no quality loss at all.
- Adjust the quality JPG and WebP accept a quality between 50 and 100. The default of 92 keeps the loss invisible in practice while holding the file size down.
- Download the results Save images one by one, or use "Download all as ZIP" when you have converted several at once.
Tips for getting more out of it
- Files are identified by their contents, not their extension. Files pulled off an iPhone may end in .heic or .HEIF, or carry no extension at all, but the leading bytes are inspected so they convert regardless.
- A JPG quality around 92 is the practical sweet spot. Pushing towards 100 grows the file steadily while the visible difference stays negligible.
- Feel free to drop a large batch in one go. Files are processed one after another, and an unreadable file does not stop the rest.
- Because HEIC already compresses efficiently, converting to JPG can make the file larger. The percentage shown next to each result tells you which way it went.
- Choose PNG when transparency matters. JPG cannot store an alpha channel, so transparent areas turn black or white.
When you need HEIC conversion
Photos will not open on Windows
When photos copied from an iPhone refuse to open or show no thumbnail, converting to JPG makes them work with the built-in Photos app.
Uploading to a web service
Marketplaces, job sites and government forms often accept only JPG or PNG, so files need converting first.
Placing photos into documents
Where Word, Excel or PowerPoint cannot read HEIC, a JPG can be inserted directly.
Sending photos to print
Print labs generally expect JPG, which makes conversion a required step beforehand.
HEIC terms explained
- HEIC
- The extension used for HEIF files whose images are compressed with HEVC. iPhone photos are stored this way.
- HEIF
- The container standard that holds the image. Several compression methods can go inside it; AVIF, which uses AV1, belongs to the same family.
- HEVC
- A video compression method also known as H.265. It compresses far better than JPG, which is also why support is uneven.
- Lossy compression
- Compression that cannot be undone but shrinks files dramatically. JPG, WebP and HEIC all work this way.
- Lossless compression
- Compression that restores the original exactly. PNG works this way, at the cost of a larger file.
- ftyp box
- An identifying region at the start of a file that declares which standard it follows. This tool reads it to decide whether a file is HEIF-based.
Frequently asked questions
Side Note — Why HEIC so often refuses to open
When a HEIC file will not open, it is tempting to blame Apple for pushing a proprietary format. The truth runs the other way: HEIF is an international standard published by MPEG in 2015. Apple simply adopted it before anyone else, and the specification belongs to no single company.
What held adoption back was the compression inside it. HEVC, also known as H.265, is covered by a dense thicket of patents held by many companies, and the royalties are administered by more than one licensing body. Working out who to pay, and how much, became genuinely difficult, which made browser and operating system vendors cautious about shipping HEVC support at all. It is a sharp contrast with JPG, which survived more than thirty years precisely because anyone could use it freely.
AV1 was the answer to that problem. Google, Amazon, Netflix and Mozilla among others built it on the premise that no royalties would be charged. Wrap an AV1 image in the HEIF container and you get AVIF, effectively HEIC's sibling. Tellingly, the major browsers went on to support AVIF while continuing to leave HEIC alone.
It is a case where the licensing philosophy, rather than the technical merits, decided which format spread. The small chore of converting a HEIC file has a long history of standards and intellectual property sitting behind it.