HEIC photos from an iPhone: what they are and how to turn them into JPG

What a HEIC file is

Since iOS 11, iPhones save photos in the HEIF format by default, with the extension .heic. HEIF uses newer compression than JPEG, so a HEIC photo is often about half the size of a JPEG of the same quality. That saves a lot of space on the phone.

The catch is support. Apple devices open HEIC everywhere, but many websites, older programs and some Windows PCs don't. Windows can show HEIC photos only after you install Microsoft's HEIF and HEVC extensions, and the HEVC one is a paid add-on in some regions. Upload forms often accept only JPEG and PNG.

When you won't see HEIC at all

When you choose a photo for a website from the iPhone photo library, Safari usually hands the site a JPEG copy, not the HEIC original. Emailing a photo from the Photos app also tends to convert it. You mostly meet .heic files when you copy photos to a computer by cable, from iCloud Drive or a shared folder, or through apps that keep the original file.

Option 1: change the iPhone setting for new photos

1. Open Settings, then Camera, then Formats.
2. Choose Most Compatible. New photos are now saved as JPEG.

This doesn't change photos you already took, and JPEG files take more space on the phone. If space matters, keep High Efficiency and convert only the photos you need to share.

Option 2: convert in the browser with MoaMoa

1. Open Change photo format and choose or drop your .heic files. Several at once is fine.
2. Under Save as, keep JPG for photos. Choose PNG only if you need lossless output, and expect a much larger file.
3. Adjust Quality if you want a smaller file. 85 to 90% is a good balance for photos.
4. Save each photo, or save them all as a ZIP.

The photos are decoded and converted inside your browser and are not uploaded. Browsers that can't read HEIC themselves use a decoder that downloads to the page the first time it's needed. Photos come out upright, even when the original was stored sideways with a rotation tag.

! Some HEIC files hold more than one image, such as a burst or a Live Photo. The converter saves the main image and tells you that the file contained more.

Option 3: convert on a Mac

On a Mac, open the photo in Preview, choose File, then Export, and pick JPEG. This works well for a few photos; for many, a batch tool is faster.

After converting

A JPEG from a 12 MP iPhone photo is often 3 to 5 MB. If the form you're filling in has a size limit, run the JPG through Resize a photo next. HEIC photos also carry the place they were taken; the JPGs MoaMoa saves don't include that information.