What it is
HEIC is a still picture stored with HEVC, the video codec behind most 4K streaming, inside a container called HEIF. Apple made it the iPhone camera’s default in 2017 because it holds a photo in roughly half the bytes of a JPEG that looks the same, and because the container can carry more than one picture — a burst, a depth map, the frames of a Live Photo.
The trouble is the codec. HEVC decoders are patent-licensed, so much software outside Apple’s does not include one: Chrome, Edge and Firefox cannot read HEIC, Windows needs extensions from its store, and the upload forms of most government, exam and bank portals accept JPEG and nothing else. That is why an iPhone photo so often has to become a JPG before it can go anywhere.
Where it opens
The rows below are about software a file will actually be handed to, not about a specification. A format is supported when the person you sent it to can open it.
| Where | What happens |
|---|---|
| iPhone, iPad and Mac (Photos, Preview, Safari) | Opens natively; this is where HEIC files come from. |
| Chrome, Edge and Firefox | No HEIC decoder of their own, so a web page cannot read the photo in them. |
| Windows | Opens in the Photos app only after HEIF and HEVC extensions are installed from the Microsoft Store. |
| Android | Recent versions decode HEIF photos in the system gallery; many third-party apps still do not. |
| Government, exam and bank portals | Most accept JPEG only, and many will not even let a .heic file be selected. |
What it costs to write
Nothing here writes HEIC: it is an input format only. Reading it needs an HEVC decoder, which Safari has and Chrome, Edge and Firefox do not; this site does not ship one (the only complete open-source reader is LGPL-licensed, a decision still open) and never uploads a photo to decode it elsewhere.
Where it goes wrong
- An iPhone photo sent by email or AirDrop often arrives as HEIC, and the recipient's laptop cannot open it.
- Some uploads from an iPhone are converted to JPEG by iOS on the way, and some are not, depending on the app and the picker — the same photo can arrive either way.
- HEIC from an iPhone is usually Display P3. Converting to JPEG converts it to sRGB, which can look slightly less saturated on a wide-gamut screen.
- A Live Photo or burst can hold several images in one file; converters normally take the primary one.
When this is the right answer
Keeping HEIC is right while the photos stay on Apple devices: smaller files, the same picture, and the Live Photo and depth data kept with it. It is the wrong format for anything that leaves — an email to a Windows user, a portal, a print shop.
To make an iPhone save JPG from now on: Settings › Camera › Formats › Most Compatible. For photos already taken, HEIC to JPG on this site converts them in Safari on the iPhone itself, without uploading them anywhere.
Questions about HEIC
Why can't my laptop open HEIC photos?
Why does the portal not accept my iPhone photo?
Is HEIC better quality than JPG?
Does converting HEIC lose the location?
Why does this site not open HEIC in Chrome?
Encoding happens on this machine; the file stays where it is.