How to Convert HEIC to JPG on Windows, Android & Online (Free)

HEIC (High Efficiency Image Container) is Apple's name for photos saved with the HEIF/HEVC codec. It stores the same picture in about half the space of a JPG at similar quality, which is why your iPhone uses it — more photos fit on the phone and in iCloud.

The catch is support. JPG has been universal for decades; HEIC is newer and patent-encumbered, so Windows needs a codec extension to preview it, most Android phones cannot open it without an app, and countless upload forms — job portals, exam sites, print services — reject it outright.

Converting to JPG (sometimes written JPEG) trades a little of that space efficiency for a file that opens, prints, and uploads anywhere.

The fastest route works the same on an iPhone, a Windows PC, a Mac, or an Android phone, because it runs in the browser. With PDF AutoPilot it also runs on your device — the photo is decoded locally and never uploaded, which matters for personal pictures. Open the HEIC to JPG tool and:

Windows 10 and 11 only show HEIC thumbnails after you install Microsoft's HEIF Image Extensions from the Store, and the matching HEVC video extension is a paid add-on. Even then, saving as JPG takes an extra step — so for a one-off, the online converter above is usually simpler and needs nothing installed.

If you do have the extensions and prefer the built-in route:

Most Android phones cannot open a HEIC file shared from an iPhone without help. Google Photos will often display it once it syncs, and you can then export a JPG — but the most reliable option is a browser-based converter that does not depend on your phone's gallery app.

If you have a folder of holiday photos to convert, do them together rather than one at a time. Drop the whole selection into the converter and it processes each file, so you get a set of JPGs in a single pass instead of repeating the steps for every picture.

Batch converting is also the safe way to prepare photos for a service that only accepts JPG — a print lab, a visa application, a marketplace listing — without missing one. If the JPGs then need to be smaller, run them through Compress Image afterwards.

If you would rather never deal with HEIC again, tell your iPhone to shoot JPG. Open Settings, tap Camera, then Formats, and choose Most Compatible — new photos are saved as JPG from then on. Switch back to High Efficiency whenever you want the space saving again.

There is also a quieter fix: in Settings > Photos, scroll to Transfer to Mac or PC and choose Automatic, and your iPhone converts HEIC to JPG as you copy photos over a cable.