HEIC vs JPG: why your iPhone photos won't open
By Altaf Ahmed. Written on . Posted in Tutorials.
You copy photos off an iPhone, double-click one on a Windows PC, and get an error. Or a website's upload form refuses the file. The photo isn't broken. It's a HEIC file, and a lot of software still can't read it.
What is a HEIC file?
HEIC is Apple's name for images stored in the HEIF format (High Efficiency Image File Format) and compressed with HEVC, the same codec used for H.265 video. iPhones have saved photos this way by default since iOS 11 in 2017, when the camera's format setting is High Efficiency.
The appeal is size: a HEIC photo is typically around half the size of a JPG of similar quality, which matters when a phone holds tens of thousands of pictures. HEIF also supports features JPG doesn't, such as higher colour depth and storing several images or an image sequence in a single file.
HEIC vs JPG at a glance
| HEIC | JPG | |
|---|---|---|
| File size | Smaller (roughly half) | Larger |
| Colour depth | Higher bit depths supported | 8-bit |
| Opens on Windows out of the box | Not always | Yes |
| Displays in Chrome, Firefox and Edge | No | Yes |
| Accepted by most upload forms | Often not | Yes |
Why HEIC photos won't open
- Windows needs Microsoft's HEIF Image Extensions from the Microsoft Store, and depending on your PC, the HEVC Video Extensions as well, which Microsoft sells as a paid add-on in many regions.
- Web browsers: Chrome, Firefox and Edge can't display HEIC images, so a HEIC file won't preview on web pages or in most web apps.
- Upload forms for job applications, government portals, marketplaces and CMSs usually accept only JPG and PNG.
- Older software, including many photo editors and print services, predates the format.
How to get JPGs instead
Option 1: Convert the HEIC files you already have
Our HEIC to JPG converter runs entirely in your browser: the photos are decoded and re-encoded on your own device and never uploaded. You can drop in a whole batch, set the JPG quality (85 is the default and a good balance), or pick PNG if you need lossless output, then download everything as one ZIP.
Option 2: Have the iPhone convert when you transfer
In Settings → Photos → Transfer to Mac or PC, choose Automatic. Photos copied to a computer over a cable are then converted to a compatible format on the way. The originals on your phone stay as HEIC.
Option 3: Shoot in JPG from now on
In Settings → Camera → Formats, choose Most Compatible. New photos are saved as JPG. The trade-off is that they take up roughly twice the space on your phone and in iCloud.
Should you keep HEIC at all?
For photos that stay in the Apple ecosystem, HEIC is the better format: smaller files, same quality. The sensible approach for most people is to keep shooting in HEIC and convert only the photos you need to share, upload or edit elsewhere. Converting is quick, and you keep the space savings on your phone.
If you need a PNG instead, for example to edit a photo without adding more compression, use the HEIC to PNG converter.