Why iPhone photos are hard to open
HEIC is the format Apple uses to save photos on modern iPhones and iPads. It is based on the HEIF standard and stores images with excellent quality at roughly half the file size of JPG, which saves space on your device. The downside appears the moment you move a photo off the phone.
Windows computers, many Android phones, older software, and countless websites do not support HEIC. People regularly find that a photo they emailed or uploaded simply will not open on the recipient's device. This makes HEIC a frequent source of frustration when sharing pictures.
Converting to JPG solves the problem instantly. JPG is the most universally supported image format, so a converted photo will open on any computer, phone, or website without special software. It is the safe choice whenever you need to send an iPhone photo to someone else.
How the conversion works
Because browsers cannot decode HEIC on their own, this tool uses a dedicated HEIC decoder that runs inside your browser to read the file. The decoded photo is drawn onto an HTML canvas and encoded as a JPG. Crucially, this all happens on your own device, so your personal photos are never uploaded to any server.
That local processing is especially important for HEIC because these files are usually personal photos. There is no queue, no privacy trade-off, and no risk of your images sitting on someone else's computer. The conversion produces a standard JPG that behaves like any other photo.
The tool is free, adds no watermark, and requires no account. It works directly in mobile browsers too, so you can convert a HEIC photo on the same phone that took it and share the JPG right away.