Drag your HEIC photos here or click to choose them
HEIC, HEIF
The conversion keeps the photo's orientation but does not copy EXIF metadata: the resulting image does not keep the date, the camera or the GPS location.
How it works
HEIC is the format iPhone and iPad use to save photos since iOS 11. It is a HEIF image compressed with HEVC (H.265), taking about half the space of a JPG of similar quality. The problem is compatibility: many programs, websites, forms and Windows versions without the corresponding extension cannot open it.
This tool decodes the file with libheif compiled to WebAssembly and re-encodes it as JPG, PNG or WebP using the browser canvas. It respects the rotation stored in the file, can extract every image from a burst and processes several photos at once without uploading them to any server.
Examples
HEIC · 8256 × 5504 · 4.3 MBJPG 92 % · 8.3 MBA 45-megapixel photo converted to JPG at quality 92: the JPG is almost twice as large because its compression is less efficient than HEVC.HEIC · 8256 × 5504 · 4.3 MBWebP 92 % · 6.3 MBAt the same quality, WebP takes noticeably less space than JPG and every current browser can open it. For publishing on the web it is also worth lowering the quality or resizing the photo.HEIC · 8256 × 5504 · 4.3 MBPNG · 53.5 MBPNG loses no quality, but with a photo the file ends up more than ten times larger than the HEIC. It only makes sense if the image will be edited further.Use cases
- Open on Windows or Linux the photos you copied from your iPhone to your computer.
- Upload photos to forms, government websites or stores that only accept JPG or PNG.
- Prepare images for a web page in WebP, lighter than JPG.
- Share photos without the GPS location or camera data, since the conversion does not copy the EXIF.
- Convert many photos at once and download them together in a ZIP.
Frequently asked questions
Are my photos uploaded to a server?
No. Decoding and encoding happen inside your browser. The decoder, around 1.5 MB, is downloaded the first time, but your photos never leave your device, which matters when they are personal or show documents.
Is quality lost when converting from HEIC to JPG?
A little, because JPG is a lossy format and the image is compressed again. At a quality between 90 and 95 the difference is not visible to the naked eye. If you need a copy with no additional loss, choose PNG, although the file will be several times larger.
How do I make my iPhone take photos directly in JPG?
Go to Settings > Camera > Formats and choose Most Compatible. From then on new photos are saved as JPG and videos as H.264, at the cost of using more space. Another option is to keep HEIC and, under Settings > Photos > Transfer to Mac or PC, choose Automatic so the iPhone converts them when you copy them over a cable.
Are the date and location of the photo kept?
No. The image is redrawn and the resulting file carries no EXIF metadata, so it loses the capture date, the camera model and the GPS coordinates. The orientation is applied to the pixels, so the photo appears upright. If you need that data, also keep the original HEIC file.
What happens with Live Photos and bursts?
A Live Photo is saved as a HEIC with the photo and a separate MOV video; here the photo is converted. If a HEIF file contains several images, such as a burst, only the main one is converted by default; turn on the option to convert all of them and each one is downloaded with a number at the end of its name.
What is the difference between HEIC and HEIF?
HEIF is the container format defined by MPEG, and HEIC is the name given to HEIF files whose images are compressed with HEVC, which is what Apple and many Android phones and cameras use. This tool opens both, with the .heic, .heif or .hif extension.