How to convert HEIC to JPG on iPhone
Your iPhone saves photos as HEIC to save space, great for storage, annoying when you need to send or upload them somewhere that only accepts JPG. Here's the fastest way to convert on your phone itself.
Why iPhone uses HEIC
Apple switched to HEIC (High Efficiency Image Coding) starting with iOS 11. It produces files roughly half the size of JPG with the same visual quality, which means more photos fit on your phone.
The catch: HEIC isn't supported everywhere. Some websites, older software, car systems, and work email systems still refuse to open it. When that happens, you need a JPG copy.
Option 1: Convert in Safari (fastest)
You don't need an app. Open Safari on your iPhone, go to the HEIC to JPG converter at imageconverterhub.com, and tap to select photos. The conversion runs entirely on your phone, your photos are never uploaded anywhere.
You can select up to 200 photos at once and download them all as a ZIP. On an iPhone with a modern processor, a batch of 50 photos converts in well under a minute.
Option 2: Change iPhone camera settings
If you'd rather skip converting altogether, have your iPhone save JPGs in the first place.
Open Settings → Camera → Formats and choose 'Most Compatible' instead of 'High Efficiency'. Your photos will now be saved as JPG. The trade-off: files are roughly twice as large, so you'll fit fewer photos in the same storage.
Option 3: The built-in Share menu trick
For a single photo, you can also use the share sheet: open a photo, tap Share, then choose an option that re-encodes on the way out. AirDrop to a Mac keeps HEIC, but sharing to an app that has asked iOS for a JPG, most mail clients, most upload forms, gets you a JPG automatically.
It works, but it is inconsistent and invisible: you cannot tell from the share sheet which apps will convert and which will hand over the original HEIC. For predictable results, and for anything involving more than one photo, the browser method above is the better bet.
Keeping your originals
Converting never touches the photo in your library. The converter reads the file your browser hands it, produces a new JPG, and puts that in your Downloads, the HEIC in Photos is untouched and still there.
That matters if you are converting to satisfy one stubborn website. Send the JPG, keep the HEIC. You lose nothing, and you keep the smaller file on the device where storage actually matters.
What happens to Live Photos, bursts and edits
A Live Photo is a HEIC still plus a short MOV video, stored as a pair. Converting gives you the still frame as a JPG, the motion is a separate video file and is not part of the image conversion.
Edits behave the way you would expect: iOS stores the edited version alongside the original, and what your browser receives when you pick the photo is the edited one. Burst photos come through as individual frames, so a 20-shot burst arrives as 20 selectable images rather than one.
iCloud Photos: the one thing that catches people out
If you use iCloud Photos with 'Optimise iPhone Storage' turned on, the full-resolution image may not physically be on your phone, the device holds a smaller preview and fetches the original on demand.
iOS handles this transparently and downloads the original when you select the photo, but on a slow connection a large batch can pause while it retrieves them. If a batch seems stuck at the selection step, that is usually why. Waiting on Wi-Fi resolves it; so does switching to 'Download and Keep Originals' in Settings → Photos.
Will converting to JPG wreck my photo quality?
No. At a quality setting of 92%, a JPG is visually indistinguishable from the original for nearly all photos. HEIC's real advantage is file size, not pixel quality, a 48MP photo converted to JPG still looks stunning, and the resolution is unchanged.
The honest caveat: JPG is lossy, so each re-encode costs a little. Converting once, from your original HEIC, is fine. Converting a JPG to a JPG repeatedly is what visibly degrades an image. Always convert from the original rather than from a copy someone sent you.
One real difference worth knowing: HEIC can store more than 8 bits per colour channel, and JPG cannot. On an ordinary photo you will never see it. On a deliberate HDR shot with a wide, smooth sky gradient, you may see faint banding in the JPG that was not in the HEIC. If that matters, convert to PNG instead.
Quick questions
Do I need to install an app to convert HEIC to JPG on iPhone?
No. You can convert directly in Safari at imageconverterhub.com, free, private, no installs.
Can I batch-convert all my HEIC photos at once?
Yes. Select up to 200 photos at a time and download them as a single ZIP file.
Are my photos uploaded to a server?
No. The conversion happens entirely on your iPhone. Nothing is uploaded, and you can verify it: turn on Aeroplane Mode after the page has loaded and the converter still works.
Will converting reduce quality?
At 92% quality, no visible difference. Your photos keep their full resolution.
Can I change my iPhone to save JPG instead?
Yes. Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible saves JPGs directly. Existing photos stay HEIC; the change only affects new ones.
Does converting delete or change the original photo?
No. The original HEIC stays in your Photos library untouched. Conversion produces a new file in Downloads.
What happens to a Live Photo when I convert it?
You get the still frame as a JPG. The motion is stored as a separate video file and is not part of an image conversion.
Where do the converted files go on an iPhone?
Into the Files app, in Downloads, unless Safari is set to save elsewhere. From there you can move them into Photos or attach them directly.
Converters
The converter on this page handles every conversion this guide talks about.