Why HEIC files will not open
Since iOS 11, iPhones and iPads save photos as HEIC — a newer format that stores the same picture in roughly half the space of a JPG. The saving is real, but support never caught up: Windows Photo Viewer, many web upload forms, older Android phones, printing kiosks and plenty of desktop software still cannot read the file at all.
Converting to JPG solves that permanently. The picture looks the same; only the container changes. The trade-off is file size, since JPG is a less efficient format — expect the converted file to be noticeably larger than the HEIC original.
How the conversion works here
Browsers cannot decode HEIC on their own, so this page loads a decoder that runs inside your browser and unpacks the file locally. The decoded image is then re-encoded to JPG through the Canvas API on your own machine. Nothing is uploaded, nothing is queued on a server, and nothing is kept.
That local decoding step is why HEIC files take a moment longer than ordinary images. A batch of large photos from a recent iPhone will take a few seconds each rather than being instant.
Choosing an output format
- JPG — the reason most people are here. Universally accepted by every app, website, printer and operating system.
- PNG — lossless, so nothing is thrown away, but files will be much larger. Useful if the photo will be edited further.
- WebP — a good choice if the photo is destined for a website, since it keeps files small and every current browser reads it.
- AVIF — the smallest of the four, and closest to HEIC in efficiency, though support is still narrower than JPG.
Quality, size and what gets stripped
The quality slider controls JPG compression. 85 is a sensible default that keeps the result visually identical to the original for almost everyone. Dropping to 70 roughly halves the file again at a cost most people will not see on a phone screen.
Re-encoding discards EXIF metadata, which includes the camera model, the date, and the GPS coordinates where the photo was taken. That is usually welcome when sharing photos publicly, but worth knowing if you rely on that data for sorting.
Frequently asked questions
Are my photos uploaded anywhere?
No. Both the HEIC decoding and the JPG encoding happen inside your browser. You can open your browser's network tab during a conversion and watch that no file data is sent.
How many photos can I convert at once?
Up to 50 per batch. There is no server limit, so the real constraint is your device's memory — a phone will handle a large batch more slowly than a laptop.
Why is the JPG bigger than the HEIC?
That is expected. HEIC is a more efficient format, so the same image stored as JPG usually takes noticeably more space. Lower the quality slider if size matters more than fidelity.
What happens to a Live Photo?
Only the still frame is converted. The short video attached to a Live Photo is a separate file that a static image format cannot hold.
Does converting reduce the quality?
Slightly, since JPG is lossy. At quality 85 or above the difference is invisible in normal viewing. Choose PNG if you need a completely lossless result.
Can I stop my iPhone saving HEIC in the first place?
Yes. In Settings → Camera → Formats, choose "Most Compatible" and new photos will be saved as JPG. Photos already taken stay in HEIC and still need converting.