If you have moved iPhone photos to a computer or sent them to someone, you may have hit a file ending in '.HEIC' that simply wouldn't open. HEIC is the photo format recent iPhones use by default. It looks great, but it still doesn't open everywhere.
This guide explains what HEIC is, why Apple uses it, and why you so often need to turn it into a JPG.
What are HEIC and HEIF?
HEIC is Apple's photo flavor of a container format called HEIF (High Efficiency Image Format). The key is right there in the name: high efficiency. It can store the same quality at roughly half the size of a JPG, which saves space on your device.
Apple switched the iPhone's default photo format to HEIC starting with iOS 11. So unless you changed a setting, most photos from a reasonably recent iPhone are HEIC.
The upside: small files, great quality
HEIC's advantages are clear.
- Smaller files than JPG at the same quality — saves storage space
- Can hold richer color (higher bit depth)
- Can pack multiple images into one file, supporting features like Live Photos
- Can carry extras like transparency and metadata
The problem: compatibility
Despite all those upsides, conversion is often necessary because of compatibility. HEIC is relatively new, so older Windows PCs, some Android devices, many websites, document editors, and upload forms either fail to open it or reject the upload. JPG, by contrast, has been an effectively universal standard for decades.
That is why you so often see 'it looks fine on my phone, but the person I sent it to can't open it.' When you don't know the recipient's setup, JPG is the safest choice.
What to know before converting
When you turn HEIC into JPG you gain universal compatibility, but keep two things in mind. First, JPG is lossy, so the conversion can drop quality very slightly (usually not noticeable). Second, JPG can't carry HEIC's richer color information or features like Live Photos. For ordinary sharing and uploads, neither difference is a real problem.
Converting safely
Switching's HEIC-to-JPG conversion runs entirely in your browser, so your photos are never uploaded to a server. Even files you'd rather not post online — family or personal photos — can be turned into JPG and made to open on any device or site, without leaving your computer.