HEIC to JPG Converter

Since iOS 11, iPhones have saved photos as HEIC by default. The format keeps pictures small, but plenty of software never learned to read it. A photo that looks fine on your phone can fail the moment it leaves it.

• Windows needs the free HEIF Image Extensions from the Microsoft Store before Photos will show a HEIC file. Without them you see a blank thumbnail or an error.
• Chrome and Firefox don't display HEIC files, so a photo you try to open in a tab or attach to a web page goes nowhere.
• Upload forms for jobs, school portals and marketplaces often accept only JPG or PNG, and they reject a .heic file.

Apple notes that when you send a photo by AirDrop, Messages or email to a device that can't read HEIC, it may be shared as a more compatible format automatically. A photo you copy over a cable, or pull from a cloud folder, often arrives as HEIC and stays that way. Converting it here gives you a plain JPG that works everywhere. If you want a different format than JPG, the Image Converter offers PNG, WebP and AVIF too.

You can stop the problem at the source. On your iPhone:

1. Open Settings and tap Camera.
2. Tap Formats.
3. Choose Most Compatible.

From then on, new photos are saved as JPG. Apple says High Efficiency brings back the smaller HEIF files. The setting only affects photos you take after you change it. Everything already in your library stays HEIC, so you still need a converter for the old ones.

Expect a trade-off. JPG photos take up more room on your phone and in iCloud than HEIC photos of the same scene, because HEIC compresses better. If storage matters more than convenience, keep High Efficiency and convert only the photos you need to share. When a converted batch is bigger than you'd like, run the JPGs through Compress Image to bring each one under a size like 1 MB.

Importing over a USB cable can also hand you JPGs instead of HEIC. Apple documents a Keep Originals option in the Photos settings if you ever want the opposite and need the original HEIC files.

Every photo carries hidden details: when it was taken, which camera made it, and often exactly where you were standing. Sorting a photo library by date depends on the first. Privacy depends on the last.

The Photo info card on this page starts on Remove location. It keeps the date and the camera details, so your photos stay in order in any app, and it removes the GPS position. A row says Location removed, camera data kept once it is done. Two other choices sit beside it:

• Remove all strips the date, camera and location.
• Keep all leaves everything, including where the photo was taken. Use it only for photos you are not sharing.

Photos are turned upright using their saved rotation, so a portrait shot stays a portrait shot. The default JPG quality is high enough for most uses. If a form wants a smaller picture, open Advanced settings (optional) to resize it or set a maximum file size, or send it through the Image Resizer.

Once you add ten or more photos, a note suggests the ZIP download, which saves you from clicking through a big camera roll one file at a time.