You copy a batch of photos from an iPhone to a work laptop, try to attach one to a form, and the upload box rejects it. Or a family member emails you pictures that your photo editor refuses to open. The culprit is almost always the same: the files end in .heic. This guide explains what HEIC is, why it causes trouble, and the quickest ways to turn those photos into formats that open anywhere.

What HEIC Is and Why Your iPhone Uses It

HEIC is Apple's name for images stored in the HEIF format (High Efficiency Image File Format). iPhones have saved photos this way by default since iOS 11. The appeal is size: a HEIC photo is typically about half the size of a JPG of similar visual quality, so the same phone storage holds many more pictures. HEIC also supports features JPG lacks, such as 16-bit color and storing several images, like the frames of a Live Photo, in one file.

Apple explains the format and its compatibility settings in its support article on using HEIF or HEVC media on Apple devices.

Why HEIC Files Cause Problems

The format is efficient, but support outside Apple's ecosystem is still patchy:

  • Older Windows PCs may need an extra codec before they can even show a thumbnail.
  • Many websites and online forms accept only JPG and PNG, so a HEIC upload fails or is silently rejected.
  • Some photo editors and office programs cannot open HEIC at all.
  • Printing services and kiosks frequently expect JPG.

When a photo needs to leave your phone and be used by someone else's system, JPG or PNG is still the safe choice.

JPG or PNG: Which Should You Pick?

For photographs, JPG is usually right. It compresses photos very efficiently and opens on essentially every device and website. Its compression is lossy, so each save discards a little detail, but at a sensible quality setting the difference is invisible.

PNG is lossless, so no detail is lost, and it supports transparency. That makes it better for screenshots, graphics with text, and images you plan to edit repeatedly. The trade-off is file size: a photograph saved as PNG can be several times larger than the same photo as JPG.

If you want the deeper comparison, including newer options like WebP and AVIF, this guide to JPG, PNG, WebP and AVIF compared covers where each format fits.

Four Ways to Get JPG Instead of HEIC

1. Change the camera setting going forward. On an iPhone, go to Settings → Camera → Formats and choose "Most Compatible." New photos will be saved as JPG. You give up some storage efficiency, but everything you shoot from then on opens everywhere.

2. Let the iPhone convert when transferring. Under Settings → Photos, the "Transfer to Mac or PC" option set to "Automatic" converts photos to a compatible format when you copy them to a computer over a cable.

3. Convert files you already have. For photos already saved as HEIC, an online converter is the fastest route. Use HEIC to JPG for everyday photos, or HEIC to PNG when you need lossless quality or plan to edit the image further.

4. Export from the Photos app. On a Mac, you can select photos and choose File → Export, then pick JPEG or PNG as the format.

Getting the Best Quality

A few habits keep your converted photos looking right:

  • Convert from the original. Converting a HEIC to JPG once is fine. Converting a JPG to another JPG repeatedly stacks compression losses.
  • Choose a high JPG quality for photos you care about. Around 85–90% is visually indistinguishable from the original for most images and still much smaller than PNG.
  • Check orientation and color after converting. Occasionally rotation data or wide-gamut color is interpreted differently by another program.
  • Mind the file size limit. If a form caps uploads at a few megabytes, a high-resolution photo may still be too big after conversion. Reducing the pixel dimensions usually helps more than lowering quality.

Privacy: Photos Carry Hidden Data

Photos from a phone often include metadata such as the date, camera model and GPS location where the picture was taken. Converting a file does not always remove it. Before posting photos publicly or sending them to strangers, check whether location data is attached, and strip it if you would rather not share where you live or work.

The Bottom Line

HEIC saves space on your phone, but JPG and PNG are still the formats the rest of the world expects. Switch your camera to "Most Compatible" if you share photos often, let the phone convert on transfer, and convert existing HEIC files when a website or program refuses them. Pick JPG for photographs and PNG for graphics or anything you will keep editing.