Since iOS 11, iPhones capture photos in HEIC (High Efficiency Image Container). It's a genuinely better format — same quality as JPG at roughly half the size — but compatibility hasn't caught up everywhere: older Windows, many web forms, some CRMs and plenty of desktop software still reject .heic files. If you've hit "unsupported file type," you need a conversion. Here's how to do it without installing anything.
Convert and compress in one step: our tool opens HEIC files where your browser supports them, and outputs JPG or WebP at any target size.
Convert HEIC to JPGFour ways to convert, ranked
1. In the browser (fastest)
Modern Safari and Chrome can decode HEIC natively or via the system codec, which means a browser-based tool like our compressor can open your iPhone photos directly, convert them to JPG or WebP, and shrink them to a target size — one step, no upload, nothing installed. On systems where the browser lacks HEIC support, use one of the options below first, then compress the JPG here.
2. Let the iPhone do it while transferring
iOS converts automatically when you share via most apps and email — photos arrive as JPG without you doing anything. But when you transfer files over a cable or cloud sync, you get the original HEIC. To make transfers always JPG: Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible. The tradeoff: your photos double in storage size on the phone, which is why Apple defaults to HEIC in the first place.
3. On Windows
Windows 10/11 opens HEIC once the free HEIF Image Extensions pack is installed from the Microsoft Store. The Photos app can then view them; for conversion, right-click → open in Photos → Save As JPEG works for one-off files, and PowerToys' Image Resizer handles batches. Or just drag them into the browser tool above.
4. On Mac
Preview opens HEIC natively. File → Export → format JPEG handles single images; for batches, select all → File → Export, or use Automator/Shortcuts for a repeatable drag-and-drop converter.
What happens during conversion
HEIC→JPG is decode-then-encode: the image is decoded to raw pixels and re-encoded as JPG. Because JPG is lossy, this re-encode costs a little quality — negligible if you export at high quality once, visible if you repeatedly round-trip. Convert from the original HEIC each time rather than re-converting a JPG. Practically, a 3 MB HEIC becomes a 4–6 MB JPG at full quality, or a 200–400 KB JPG after compression — which is what most use cases actually want.
Should you even convert?
If the destination accepts HEIC — Apple ecosystem, recent Android, modern browsers via HEIC support, some CMSs — keep it: it's smaller at equal quality. Convert when a system rejects it or when you're distributing to unknown recipients (web forms, print shops, partners). And when the goal is small files for web use, converting to WebP instead of JPG beats both formats on size.
Privacy note
Photos carry EXIF metadata including location. Server-based converters get that data along with the picture. A browser-based converter processes everything locally — the photo never leaves your device, which matters for family photos as much as for documents.