Image Converter — HEIC to JPG, WebP, PNG
Convert an iPhone HEIC photo to JPG, or switch between JPEG, PNG, and WebP in seconds. Everything happens in your browser — your image is never uploaded anywhere.
Why won't my HEIC photo open on Windows?
Since 2017, iPhones save photos in HEIC (High Efficiency Image Container) by default. Apple chose it because HEIC files are roughly half the size of an equivalent JPEG at the same quality — great for saving storage on your phone. The catch: Windows, many websites, older printers, and most upload forms were built around JPEG and don't understand HEIC out of the box. Windows will even ask you to buy a codec from the Microsoft Store just to view one. The simplest fix is to convert the photo to JPG once, then use it anywhere. This page does that conversion locally on your device, so the photo stays private.
Which format should I convert to?
JPEG is the universal choice — every app, website, and form accepts it. PNG keeps transparency and is pixel-perfect, ideal for logos and screenshots but larger for photos. WebP is the smallest of the three and works in every modern browser, though a few old desktop apps still can't open it.
| Format | Best for | Transparency | File size (photos) | Compatibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JPEG | Photos, uploads, email | No | Small | Universal |
| PNG | Screenshots, logos, graphics | Yes | Large | Universal |
| WebP | Websites, modern apps | Yes | Smallest | All modern browsers |
| HEIC | iPhone camera storage | Yes | Smallest | Apple devices mostly |
One thing to watch: if your original image has a transparent background (a PNG logo, for example) and you convert it to JPEG, the transparency is replaced with a solid background, because JPEG has no transparency at all. Choose PNG or WebP if you need to keep it.
Converting to PNG does not repair a JPEG
This is the most common misunderstanding about format conversion, and it wastes a great deal of disk space. PNG is lossless, so people reasonably assume that saving a JPEG as a PNG gives them a lossless copy. It does — a perfect, lossless copy of the damage.
Every detail the JPEG threw away when it was first saved is already gone. Converting to PNG freezes exactly what remains, compression artefacts included, in a format that is far less efficient for photographs. The result is typically three to five times larger and looks identical, because it is identical. Nothing was recovered.
The rule is short: lossy cannot be un-lost. Convert to PNG when you need transparency, or for screenshots, logos and line art. Convert to JPEG or WebP when a photograph needs to be small. Never convert to PNG expecting quality back.
Which conversions lose something, and which do not
| Conversion | Lossy? | What actually happens |
|---|---|---|
| HEIC → JPG | Yes | Decoded and re-encoded. One generation of loss, usually invisible. The point is compatibility, not quality. |
| JPG → PNG | No, and pointless | Faithfully preserves what the JPEG already discarded, at three to five times the size. |
| PNG → JPG | Yes | Real loss, and transparency is filled with white — the corners of a logo stop being invisible. |
| PNG → WebP | Yes, here | The browser encoder used on this page writes lossy WebP. Smaller, and not a replacement for the PNG original. |
| WebP → PNG | No | Lossless if the WebP was lossless; otherwise, again, a faithful copy of existing loss. |
What falls out of that table is one habit: keep the original. Conversion produces a copy something else can open. It never produces a better file than the one you started with.
Sources
- MDN —
HTMLCanvasElement.toBlob()— the browser API doing the encoding here. It documents which formats accept a quality argument, which is what makes the lossy column above a statement of fact rather than an opinion. - Google — WebP compression techniques — the difference between lossy and lossless WebP, and why a browser's default encoder produces the lossy variant.
Frequently asked questions
Is my photo uploaded to your server?
No. The file is decoded and re-encoded entirely inside your browser — it never leaves your device. There is no server-side processing at all, which also means there's no file-size queue and no waiting.
Can I convert JPG to HEIC?
Honestly, no — browsers can decode HEIC (with a helper library, as this page does) but none of them can encode it, so no browser-based tool can genuinely output HEIC. If a website claims to, it's converting on a server, which means uploading your photo. To create HEIC files you need a desktop app or a Mac.
Why did my logo's transparent background turn black or white?
You converted to JPEG, which doesn't support transparency — transparent pixels get flattened onto a solid background. Convert to PNG or WebP instead to keep the transparency.
Does converting lose quality?
Converting to PNG is lossless. Converting to JPEG or WebP re-compresses the image; at 90% quality (the default here) the difference is invisible to virtually everyone. You can raise the slider to 100% for near-original quality at a larger file size.
Why can't this page read my HEIC file?
A few HEIC variants — 10-bit HDR captures, burst containers, or files renamed to .heic that aren't really HEIC — can't be decoded in the browser. If that happens, try exporting the photo from the Photos app on your phone first, or email it to yourself (Mail often converts it to JPEG automatically).
Guides that go deeper
🗜️How to Reduce Photo File Size (Email, Uploads, Web)
Email limits, form uploads, and web images — realistic targets and the right way to hit them.
🖼️JPG vs PNG vs WebP: Which Image Format Should You Actually Use?
A practical breakdown of JPG, PNG, and WebP — what each one is good at and how to pick the right one.
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