How to convert HEIC to JPG

Convert HEIC on the device that produced it. On an iPhone, Settings, Camera, Formats, Most Compatible makes the camera shoot JPEG from then on; for photos you already have, share or export them and iOS converts to JPEG automatically. On a Mac, open in Preview and export as JPEG. On Windows 10 and 11, Photos can save a copy as JPEG.

The ToolAcre Image Converter cannot read HEIC. That is stated plainly rather than attempted, because browsers have no dependable way to decode it.

Last reviewed: 2026-09-19. Checked against the tool’s own source on that date.

Why a browser tool cannot do this

HEIC is a container holding an image encoded with HEVC. Decoding it needs an HEVC decoder, and on most platforms that decoder is a licensed system component rather than something a web page can reach.

Browsers do not expose a general HEIC decode path to JavaScript. A web tool can only support HEIC by shipping a decoder compiled to WebAssembly — typically a multi-megabyte download — and even then the results vary by file, because camera makers write variants that a generic decoder handles inconsistently.

So a browser HEIC converter either downloads a large decoder that sometimes fails, or uploads your photograph to a server that has a real decoder. The second option is what most "free HEIC converter" sites do, and it means your photographs — often with GPS coordinates still attached — are sent to somebody else’s machine.

This site does neither. The Image Converter rejects HEIC with a clear message instead of pretending, which is why this page sends you to the device rather than to a button.

Converting on the device that took the photo

All four of these use the platform’s own licensed decoder, so they are reliable in a way a web page cannot be, and none of them upload your photograph anywhere.

  • iPhone and iPad — Settings, Camera, Formats, and choose Most Compatible to shoot JPEG from now on. For existing photos, AirDrop, email or share them to a Mac or PC and iOS converts to JPEG on the way out. Transferring with a cable copies the original HEIC instead, which is the usual reason people end up stuck with HEIC on a computer.
  • macOS — open the file in Preview, then File, Export, and choose JPEG. Preview handles a whole selection at once.
  • Windows 10 and 11 — the Photos app opens HEIC when the HEIF extension is installed, and Save as can write JPEG. If Photos refuses to open the file, the extension is missing.
  • Android — Files or Google Photos can share or export a copy as JPEG; Android phones that shoot HEIC generally convert on share.

What to do once you have JPEGs

Converting to JPEG usually carries the metadata across, including GPS coordinates, the capture timestamp and the phone model. If the reason you wanted JPEG was to share the pictures, that metadata is worth checking before you do.

From that point the browser tools here apply normally: the Image Metadata Privacy Tool will show you exactly what is in each file and write a cleaned copy, and the Image Converter will resize and compress the JPEGs for whatever you are sending them to.

Worked example: forty holiday photos for a shared album

Forty HEIC photographs on an iPhone need to go into a web album that accepts JPEG only, at a sensible size, without the GPS coordinates of the house they were taken outside.

  1. On the iPhone, select the forty photos and share them to your computer — AirDrop to a Mac, or the Photos import on Windows. They arrive as JPEG.
  2. Open the Image Metadata Privacy Tool and check one of them. You will typically see GPS coordinates, a timestamp and the phone model.
  3. Strip the metadata and download the cleaned copies.
  4. Open the Image Converter, add the cleaned files, resize to 2000 pixels on the long edge and convert as a batch.
  5. Download the batch as a ZIP.

Result: Forty JPEGs at a size suitable for a web album, with the location data removed and verified removed by loading one back into the metadata tool. The conversion step happened on the phone, using Apple’s own decoder; everything after it happened in your browser with no upload.

Open the tool

Check what is inside your converted JPEGs

The Image Metadata Privacy Tool reads JPEG, PNG and WebP in your browser and shows any GPS data before removing it. It cannot read HEIC.

What this does not cover

  • The ToolAcre Image Converter and the Image Metadata Privacy Tool both reject HEIC and HEIF outright. Neither can be made to read them.
  • The metadata tool cannot inspect or clean a HEIC file, so the check has to happen after conversion to JPEG.
  • Converting HEIC to JPEG on any device is a lossy re-encode. The HEIC original is the better master; keep it if the photographs matter.
  • Platform menus move between operating system versions. The paths above were accurate on current iOS, macOS and Windows at the review date, and the concept — export or share rather than copy — outlives the exact menu wording.