HEIC to JPG on Windows Without Installing Anything
You copy photos from your iPhone to a Windows PC, and IMG_1234.HEIC won't open in the regular photo viewer — or the site you need it on (an online store, a form, a print shop) says "unsupported file format".
Nothing is broken. HEIC is the format Apple has used by default since iOS 11, and Windows won't display it without an extra extension from the Microsoft Store. Here's how to get a regular JPG in a minute, with nothing to install and nothing sent anywhere.
Why iPhone saves photos as HEIC instead of JPG
HEIC (High Efficiency Image Container) compresses photos roughly twice as efficiently as JPG at a similar visible quality, which is why Apple made it the default in 2017. The catch is compatibility: recent macOS, iOS and some Android versions support HEIC, but Windows, older websites, photo-lab printers and most upload forms still expect JPG or PNG.
Step by step: convert HEIC to JPG
- Open Convert to JPG. Everything happens in your browser; the photo is never uploaded to a server.
- Add one HEIC file or several — up to 20 at a time.
- Wait a moment. A single photo takes a second or two; several take a little longer, with progress shown for each file.
- Download the result. One file downloads straight as
.jpg; several come back as a single ZIP.
Why renaming .HEIC to .JPG doesn't work
Changing the extension doesn't change how the pixels are encoded inside: HEIC and JPG store images in completely different ways. A renamed file stays unreadable (or opens as a corrupted image) in any program that doesn't understand HEIC. What you need is a real conversion — re-encoding the content into another format.
What to do with a whole folder of photos
The tool accepts up to 20 files at a time, which usually covers one event. Convert larger sets in batches: each batch comes back as its own ZIP, so sorting the photos afterwards is easy.
A setting on the iPhone itself
If HEIC keeps getting in your way, iPhone has Camera → Formats → "Most Compatible", which makes the phone shoot JPG directly. Every photo will then take roughly twice the space, so for a one-off conversion an online tool is quicker than changing your camera settings for good.
Questions and answers
Does converting HEIC to JPG lose quality?
A small loss is possible because the formats compress differently, but it isn't visible for normal viewing, printing or uploading. The tool saves the JPG at high quality (90%) rather than squeezing the size.
Can I convert HEIC to PNG instead?
Yes, use Convert to PNG. PNG is lossless, but for regular photos it's heavier than JPG.
Does this work on iPhone or iPad?
Yes, it works in any modern browser on a phone, tablet or computer.
Why doesn't Windows show HEIC files?
HEIC on Windows needs a separate Microsoft Store extension ("HEIF Image Extensions") that isn't installed on most PCs. Even with it, some programs and sites still won't accept HEIC.
Do GPS coordinates and other metadata carry over to the JPG?
No. The JPG is created from scratch in your browser, so the original's metadata (including the shooting location) isn't copied into it. You can check any photo with Remove EXIF/Metadata.