What is HEIC, and how do you open or convert iPhone photos?
Short answer: HEIC is the format iPhones have used for photos since iOS 11 in 2017. It stores the same picture in roughly half the space of a JPG, but many Windows PCs, websites and apps still cannot open it. Convert HEIC to JPG when you need to share or upload a photo, or set Camera → Formats → Most Compatible so new photos are saved as JPG.
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What HEIC actually is
HEIC is Apple's name for images stored in HEIF, the High Efficiency Image File Format, using the same HEVC (H.265) compression that iPhones use for video. Apple made it the default camera format in iOS 11 because it keeps the same visible quality as JPG in roughly half the storage — which, across thousands of photos, is a lot of space.
It is a genuinely better format. It supports 16-bit colour, transparency, and multiple images in one file, which is how Live Photos and burst shots are kept together. The problem is not quality but support.
Why HEIC files won't open
Outside Apple's own devices, support is patchy. Windows can display HEIC only after installing extensions from the Microsoft Store, one of which is paid. Many websites and online forms reject HEIC uploads outright, older Android phones and photo editors cannot read it, and some email clients show it as an attachment with no preview.
So the usual symptom is a photo that looks fine on your iPhone and fails everywhere else: an upload form that says the file type is not allowed, or a PC that shows a blank icon.
How to convert HEIC to JPG
- Open HEIC to JPG on any device — phone, PC or Mac.
- Drop in your HEIC photos, or choose them from your files.
- Leave quality at 85 unless you plan to print large or edit heavily.
- Convert, then download the JPG files.
At the default quality the difference from the HEIC is not visible in normal viewing or printing. The JPG will be larger than the HEIC — that is the storage HEIC was saving you.
If you need transparency or lossless quality, use HEIC to PNG. For photos going onto a website, HEIC to WebP gives a file close to HEIC's efficiency that every browser can show.
How to stop your iPhone saving HEIC
If you regularly need JPGs, change the camera format: open Settings, tap Camera, then Formats, and choose Most Compatible. New photos will be saved as JPG and videos as H.264. Existing photos are not changed, so convert those separately.
There is a middle way that keeps the storage saving. In Settings → Photos, under Transfer to Mac or PC, choose Automatic: the iPhone keeps HEIC but converts to JPG when you copy photos to a computer over a cable. Many apps also convert automatically when you share a photo, though not all do.
Most Compatible photos take roughly twice the space. On a phone that is close to full, keeping HEIC and converting only what you share is usually the better trade.
A note on location data
iPhone photos usually carry the exact GPS location where they were taken, along with the date and phone model. When converting on ConvertNicely, metadata is removed by default, so the JPG you share does not reveal where you took it. If you want to clean photos without converting them, remove the metadata instead — the guide to photo location data explains what is stored and why it matters.