JPG to HEIC Converter

Convert JPG to HEIC Online — Free

Upload your JPG photos, click Convert, and download HEIC files — the modern Apple image format. It runs free on our servers with no sign-up or watermark, and your files are deleted automatically after a few hours. HEIC stores the same photo at far less size than JPEG.

Real result: HEIC holds the same image at roughly half the size of JPEG at similar quality, so a photo library shrinks notably; just remember HEIC is best supported on iPhone, iPad, and recent macOS/Windows.

How to Convert JPG to HEIC Online

1. Upload Your JPG Images: Drag and drop or click "+ Add Files" to select one or many JPG/JPEG files (JFIF is also accepted). Batch conversion is supported — every file uses the same settings.
2. Pick a Quality Preset: Default is "Very High (Recommended)" which targets near-visually-lossless output at roughly half the size of the source JPG. Use High or Medium when you need extra shrinkage, or switch to "Specific file size" to target a fixed kilobyte/megabyte budget for messaging and email caps.
3. Resize (Optional): Under "Image resolution," set a percentage of the original, pick a preset (4K, 1440p, 1080p, 720p, etc.), enter a width that locks aspect ratio, enter a height that locks aspect ratio, or specify exact Width x Height. Skip the section to keep the original dimensions.
4. Convert and Download: Click "Convert." Files are processed and stay queued until you grab the result individually or as a single ZIP. No sign-up, no watermark, no email required.

Why Convert JPG to HEIC?

HEIC (High Efficiency Image Container) wraps HEVC-encoded still images in the HEIF format published by the MPEG group. Apple shipped it as the iPhone default with iOS 11 on September 19, 2017, and the format now anchors photo libraries on every iPhone 7 and later, iPad (6th gen) and later, and modern Macs. At equivalent visual quality HEIC averages about half the bytes of a JPEG, which is why converting a legacy JPG archive to HEIC pays off so fast on Apple-centric workflows.

• Reclaim iCloud and on-device storage — A 5,000-photo JPG library at ~3 MB each runs ~15 GB. The same library encoded to HEIC typically lands around 7-8 GB, freeing more than half your free-tier iCloud quota (5 GB) and cutting Photos sync time proportionally.
• Keep one consistent format in Apple Photos — Mixing JPG and HEIC inside the same Photos library works, but search, deduplication, and AirDrop behave more predictably when every asset uses the same container. Convert before bulk-importing scanned photos, exports from non-Apple cameras, or rendered images from Lightroom or Photoshop.
• Faster AirDrop, iMessage, and Shared Albums — Smaller payloads transfer faster between iPhones, iPads, and Macs on the same Wi-Fi network and consume less of your cellular data when Shared Albums sync over LTE/5G.
• Preserve 10-bit and wider color than JPEG can hold — HEIC supports up to 16-bit color depth and the Display P3 wide-gamut profile that iPhones capture natively. JPEG is locked to 8-bit and sRGB, so the HEIC container at least keeps the door open for higher-fidelity edits in Photos, Affinity, or Pixelmator Pro.
• Cheaper backup uploads — Photo backup services that bill per GB (Backblaze, Arq, rsync.net targets) bill against the post-conversion size; halving the corpus halves the recurring cost.

JPG vs HEIC vs AVIF vs WebP

HEIC Compatibility Cheat Sheet

Frequently Asked Questions

Why convert JPG to HEIC?

Mainly to save space: HEIC is about 50% smaller than JPEG at similar quality, so a photo library shrinks notably while staying near-identical to the eye. It also matches the format the iPhone camera captures, keeping your Apple Photos library consistent. Convert back to JPG whenever you need universal compatibility.

Will converting JPG to HEIC restore quality the JPG already lost?

No. JPEG compression discards information at capture time; HEIC encoding from a JPG can only re-encode what's already there. You will see the file get smaller, but you cannot recover detail that JPEG's 8x8 DCT blocks threw away. Think of the conversion as "shrink without further visible damage at Very High quality," not as a quality upgrade.

How much smaller will my HEIC files actually be?

Expect roughly 40-55% of the JPG's original size when you keep "Very High (Recommended)" and don't resize. Photos with smooth gradients (sky, skin, studio backdrops) compress hardest; busy textures (foliage, fabric) gain less. Tested across an iPhone export of 1,000 photos, the average reduction Apple cites is around 50%.

Can I open the converted HEIC on Windows?

Yes, with one or two free Microsoft Store add-ons. Windows 11 22H2 includes HEIF reading; older Windows 10 and 11 builds need both the "HEIF Image Extensions" and "HEVC Video Extensions" packages installed. Without the HEVC extension you will see file names but blank thumbnails because the container loads but the encoded image inside can't be decoded.

Does the converter keep EXIF, GPS, and capture date?

The xconvert pipeline copies the EXIF/XMP metadata block from the source JPG into the HEIC container, so camera model, lens, ISO, shutter speed, GPS coordinates, and the original capture date carry over. If you want metadata stripped (for privacy before sharing), pre-process with a tool like ExifTool first, then convert.

Will my HEIC files sync to iCloud Photos and appear on every device?

Yes. Once you drop the HEIC files into the macOS Photos app or upload via iCloud.com, they replicate to every device signed into the same Apple ID and behave exactly like camera-captured HEIC. The capture date in EXIF determines where they sort in the timeline, not the conversion date.

Should I convert my entire JPG archive or only recent photos?

If storage is the goal, convert everything — older photos compressed more aggressively as JPG usually shrink the most in absolute MB. If sharing with non-Apple users matters more than storage (Windows colleagues, Android family members), keep originals in JPG and only convert assets staying inside the Apple ecosystem.

Can I make HEIC files even smaller without losing visible quality?

Yes, two ways. First, drop quality from "Very High" to "High" — most viewers can't tell the difference at typical screen sizes. Second, use the "Image resolution" presets: a 4000-pixel-wide iPhone photo downscaled to 2560 pixels (1440p) shrinks dramatically and still looks sharp on every laptop and phone display sold today. For more aggressive shrinking on already-HEIC files, use Compress HEIC.

Is HEIC the same as HEIF?

HEIF is the container (MPEG-H Part 12, defined by the MPEG group). HEIC is the most common variant of HEIF — a HEIF file whose images are encoded with the HEVC (H.265) codec. Apple ships this combination and uses the .heic extension. Other HEIF variants exist (AVCI for H.264, AV1 image), but in everyday Apple usage "HEIC" and "HEIF" are used interchangeably.

What if my source is PNG, JPEG, or another image format?

xconvert handles those too. Try PNG to HEIC for screenshots and graphics, or JPEG to HEIC for files with the .jpeg extension. The Quality Preset and Resolution controls behave identically.