How to Convert HEIC to JPG
Step-by-step guide to converting HEIC photos to JPG on iPhone, Mac, and Windows. Covers Files app, Finder Quick Actions, Preview, Paint, and camera settings.
If you have ever tried to upload a photo from your iPhone and gotten an error message about an unsupported file format, you have run into HEIC. It stands for High Efficiency Image Container, and it has been the default photo format since iOS 11 landed in 2017, on iPhone 7 and later.
HEIC files are great for your phone. They are a lot smaller than JPEG at the same picture quality, and Nokia's HEIF documentation puts the gap at 2.39 times, with JPEG needing on average 139 percent more bitrate to match the same objective quality. But the rest of the world has not caught up. Windows computers, many websites, government upload forms, printing services, and plenty of other tools still do not accept them.
The fix is simple. You can convert any HEIC file to a standard JPG in a few taps or clicks, no matter what device you are on. You can also tell your iPhone to stop shooting HEIC entirely if you want to avoid the problem for good.
Convert on iPhone using the Files app
If you have a HEIC photo on your iPhone and need a JPG version, the Files app can do it without installing anything. Convert Image arrived in iOS 16 and it is still sitting in the same menu on iOS 26, checked August 2026. Open the Photos app and find the photo you want to convert. Tap the share icon in the bottom left and tap Save to Files. Pick a folder and save it. Now open the Files app and find the photo you just saved. Long-press on it and tap Quick Actions. Tap Convert Image and choose JPEG. Pick your preferred size and the converted file appears right next to the original. This works with multiple files too. Tap the three-dot menu in the top right, tap Select, choose all the photos you want, then tap the three-dot menu again and follow the same Quick Actions path.
Good to know: There is a faster trick. Open a photo in the Photos app and tap the share icon. Tap Copy Photo. Then open the Files app, navigate to any folder, long-press on an empty area, and tap Paste. iOS automatically creates a JPG copy. No menus, no settings.
Convert on Mac using Finder Quick Actions
If you have HEIC files on your Mac, Finder has a built-in conversion tool. No extra apps needed. The Convert Image Quick Action arrived in macOS Monterey (12) and is still in Finder on macOS Tahoe (26), checked August 2026. If you do not see it, open System Settings, go to Keyboard, then Keyboard Shortcuts, then Services, and make sure Convert Image is ticked. Open Finder and navigate to your HEIC file. Right-click on it and hover over Quick Actions. Click Convert Image. A small dialog pops up. Choose JPEG from the format dropdown, pick your image size, and click Convert to JPEG. The converted file saves in the same folder as the original. Your HEIC file stays untouched. For batch conversions, select multiple HEIC files first. You can click one, then hold Shift and click the last one to select a range, or hold Command and click to pick individual files. Then right-click and follow the same Quick Actions path. Finder converts them all at once.
Convert on Mac using Preview
Preview gives you more control over the output quality, which is useful if you care about file size. Right-click the HEIC file and choose Open With then Preview. Go to File in the menu bar and click Export. Choose JPEG from the Format dropdown. A quality slider appears. Drag it to somewhere between 85 and 100 percent. Above 85 the difference is very hard to see at normal viewing size. Click Save. For batch conversion in Preview, select multiple HEIC files in Finder, right-click, and open them all in Preview. In Preview's sidebar, press Command + A to select all thumbnails. Then go to File and click Export Selected Images. Choose a destination folder, set the format to JPEG, and Preview exports every file at once.
Convert on Windows using Paint
Windows does not open iPhone HEIC files out of the box, and the fix is two extensions rather than one. Open the Microsoft Store and install HEIF Image Extension, which is free and published by Microsoft. Then install HEVC Video Extensions, which is a paid listing, 99 cents in the US. Microsoft is explicit about needing both, in its words "You'll need both, even if you only plan on using photos and not videos". The reason is that the pixels inside a HEIC file are compressed with HEVC, and Microsoft licenses that codec separately from Windows. Without the HEVC decoder, the image extension can open the container and still not read the picture inside it. With both installed, HEIC thumbnails appear in File Explorer and the files open in any Windows app. Now right-click your HEIC file, choose Open with, and select Paint. Go to File, click Save as, and choose JPEG picture. Pick a location and click Save. That is it. The Photos app works too. Open the HEIC file in Photos, click the three-dot menu, and choose Save as. Change the file type to JPEG and save.
Heads up: If you would rather not pay for a codec just to convert a handful of photos, you do not have to. iMazing Converter is free and runs on Windows, and it is the same tool the batch question further down recommends. There is also a listing called "HEVC Video Extensions from Device Manufacturer" that carries no charge, but Microsoft Store search does not return it, so hunting for it by name is a dead end.
Stop your iPhone from shooting HEIC entirely
If you are tired of converting photos one at a time, you can tell your iPhone to shoot JPG from the start. Open Settings and tap Camera. Tap Formats. Switch from High Efficiency to Most Compatible. Every photo you take from now on will be a standard JPEG. Videos will use H.264 instead of HEVC. No more compatibility headaches. Apple's support page on HEIF and HEVC explains both format options in detail. High Efficiency produces files that are roughly half the size of their JPEG equivalents at the same visual quality. So the trade-off is real. If you take a lot of photos, switching to Most Compatible will use noticeably more storage on your phone.
Good to know: You can also set your iPhone to auto-convert when transferring photos to a computer. Go to Settings, tap Apps, tap Photos, then under "Transfer to Mac or PC" choose Automatic. Photos moved into that Apps section in iOS 18, so it is no longer in the main Settings list. Your iPhone will send JPG versions when the receiving device does not support HEIC.
Converting one or two photos is a quick job on any device. If you find yourself doing it constantly, switching your iPhone camera to Most Compatible mode is the easiest long-term fix. You will use a bit more storage, but you will never have to think about file formats again. One thing to keep in mind. Your existing HEIC photos do not change when you switch the camera setting. That only affects new photos going forward. If you have a library full of HEIC files you need to convert, the batch methods on Mac or the Files app on iPhone are your best bet. And if you are staying entirely within the Apple ecosystem, there is honestly no reason to convert at all. HEIC works perfectly across iPhones, iPads, and Macs. The format only becomes a problem when you need to share with the rest of the world.
Questions we get asked about this
Answers from experience, not a textbook.
Technically yes, because the image gets decoded from one compressed format and re-encoded into another. But in practice, the difference is invisible. At JPEG quality settings of 85 percent or higher, you are unlikely to see any difference between the converted photo and the original. Loss only starts to show at much lower settings, and 85 is a safe floor to stay above.
Apple switched to HEIC as the default camera format in iOS 11 back in 2017. The reason is file size. HEIC files come in well under half the size of a JPEG at equivalent visual quality, so your phone holds more than twice as many photos in the same space. The format also carries transparency and more than JPEG's 8 bits per color channel, neither of which JPEG can do.
Yes. On Mac, select multiple HEIC files in Finder, right-click, and use Quick Actions to convert them all at once. Preview also lets you open multiple files and export them all as JPEG in one step. On iPhone, the Files app lets you select multiple files and convert them through Quick Actions. On Windows, you would need a third-party tool like iMazing Converter, which is free and handles batch conversion.
No. Instagram, Facebook, and most major social media apps handle HEIC files automatically when you upload from your phone. The app converts the image internally before uploading. You only need to manually convert when dealing with platforms that explicitly reject HEIC, like some government portals, WordPress sites without HEIC plugins, printing services, or older email clients.
HEIF stands for High Efficiency Image File Format. It is the overall standard, defined by ISO/IEC 23008-12. HEIC is the specific file extension that Apple uses for HEIF files compressed with the HEVC codec. So HEIF is the container format and HEIC is what you see on your file names. They refer to the same thing in practice. When someone says a file is HEIC, they mean it is a HEIF file using Apple's preferred compression method.