If you just want the short version: on an iPhone, share or email the photo and iOS hands you a JPG copy. On a Mac, open it in Preview and use File > Export as JPEG. On Windows, open it in the Photos app and choose Save as. Below is how to convert HEIC to JPG the right way on each device, plus the fastest option when you have a stack of them to do at once.
Why your iPhone saves photos as HEIC in the first place
Since iOS 11, iPhones and iPads have saved photos in HEIC by default. HEIC is Apple's version of the HEIF format, and it stores a picture at roughly half the file size of an equivalent JPG while keeping similar quality. That is great for your storage and iCloud, and it is why Apple made it the default.
The catch shows up the moment you leave the Apple world. Plenty of websites, older Windows PCs, printers, and upload forms still do not accept HEIC. So you end up needing a plain JPG. The good news is that every device can produce one, usually without installing anything.
How to convert HEIC to JPG on iPhone
You have three easy ways to turn HEIC to JPG right on the phone.
The simplest one-off trick is to share it:
- Open the photo in the Photos app.
- Tap the share button (the square with the arrow).
- Choose Copy Photo, then paste it into an email, a note, or a messaging app.
iOS quietly converts that copy to JPG. Emailing the photo to yourself works the same way and gives you a JPG file in your inbox.
If you would rather stop dealing with HEIC going forward, change the camera setting so new shots save as JPG:
- Open Settings > Camera > Formats.
- Tap Most Compatible.
From then on the camera captures JPG instead of HEIC. Your existing HEIC photos stay as they are, but everything new is ready to share anywhere. If you want more control over exactly which photos become JPG, the iPhone photo to JPG tool handles the conversion in your browser without touching your camera settings.
How to change HEIC to JPG on Mac
Every Mac can do this with Preview, which is already installed.
- Double-click the HEIC file so it opens in Preview.
- In the menu bar, choose File > Export.
- Open the Format menu and select JPEG.
- Drag the Quality slider where you want it, then click Save.
That is the reliable way to change HEIC to JPG on Mac for a single image. For a batch, skip Preview and use Finder:
- Select all the HEIC files in a Finder window.
- Right-click (or Control-click) the selection.
- Choose Quick Actions > Convert Image.
- Set the format to JPEG and click Convert.
Finder makes JPG copies and leaves your originals alone. It is a genuinely fast way to convert a folder full of photos.
How to convert HEIC to JPG on Windows
Modern Windows 10 and 11 machines can usually open HEIC and save it as JPG through the Photos app:
- Right-click the HEIC file and open it with Photos.
- Click the three dots in the top corner and choose Save as.
- In the Save as type menu, pick JPG.
- Name the file and click Save.
If the photo will not open at all, Windows is missing the codec. Install the free HEIF Image Extensions from the Microsoft Store, then try again. Some Windows builds also need the HEVC Video Extensions to display these files.
Windows does not have a great built-in way to convert a large batch, though. Selecting fifty photos and saving them one at a time gets old fast, which is where a browser tool earns its keep.
The fastest way: convert a whole batch in your browser
When you have more than a handful of files, or you are on a device that fights you about HEIC, the quickest path is the HEIC to JPG converter. Drop your files onto the page, and it turns HEIC to JPG right in the browser and lets you download them all at once. Nothing gets uploaded to a server, so your photos stay on your device, and it works the same on iPhone, Android, Mac, and Windows.
It is the option to reach for when a website rejects your upload, when you are prepping a folder for a client or a print shop, or when you just want the files done without hunting through menus.
A quick note on quality and file size
Converting to JPG involves lossy compression, so technically you lose a little data. In practice, at a high quality setting you will not see any difference on screen or in a print. What usually surprises people is the size: a JPG copy is often larger than the HEIC original, because HEIC is so efficient. If the resulting JPG is bigger than you want, you can shrink it afterward without an obvious quality hit. Our guide on what a JPG file actually is explains how that compression works and why the tradeoff is usually worth it.
Once you have your JPGs, they will open anywhere, upload to any form, and print at any shop, which is the whole reason to convert in the first place.