How to convert HEIC to JPG on Windows

Why Windows asks for an extension

Windows does not read HEIC on its own. When you open one in the Photos app, Microsoft says you may see the message "You need an extension to use this file." The fix Microsoft gives is a pair of extensions from the Microsoft Store: HEIF Image Extensions, which is free, and HEVC Video Extensions, which costs $0.99. Microsoft says you need both, even if you only plan to look at photos, and that the Photos app has to be restarted after they are installed.

That is a good fix if all you want is to look at the photos on your own PC. It does not change the files, though. They are still HEIC, so the website, the shared folder or the person you send them to may still be unable to open them.

Stop the iPhone from writing HEIC

If most of your photos end up on Windows, you can switch the camera to JPG for everything you take from now on. Apple describes the setting: open Settings, tap Camera, tap Formats, then tap Most Compatible. From then on the camera saves photos as JPEG and videos as H.264. Choosing High Efficiency goes back to HEIF and HEVC, which take less space on the phone.

Apple also recommends Most Compatible when you transfer photos to a Windows PC, together with its Apple Devices app from the Microsoft Store. This only changes the photos you take after the switch. The ones already on the phone stay HEIC.

Let the transfer convert them

When photos travel from an iPhone to a computer over a cable, Apple says the media may be converted to JPEG or H.264 on the way. The phone does this unless it is told to keep the originals: open Settings, tap Apps, tap Photos, then scroll down and tap Keep Originals. If you leave that setting off, the copies that reach the PC can already be JPGs.

Microsoft points to a similar route without a cable: many devices convert HEIC photos to a more common format when the files are transferred or emailed, and OneDrive can convert photo files on its own. Both depend on how the photos travel, so they are worth knowing but hard to count on for a folder of files you already have.

Convert the files you already have

For photos that are already HEIC on your PC or in a download folder, a converter is the direct way. The tool on this page reads each HEIC file with libheif, the same open decoder for every browser, turns the main picture upright and writes a new JPG from its pixels. You can drop one file or a whole folder of them, and the ZIP keeps the original names with a .jpg ending.

Nothing is sent anywhere. The conversion runs in your browser tab, which is also why it works for private photos: the network tab of your browser shows no request carrying the file.

What converting did to our photos

We ran the converter on our 10 HEIC test photos, taken with 7 different camera models, from iPhones to a Samsung phone and an Apple Vision Pro. Together the HEIC files weighed 18.8 MB. The JPGs weighed 23.6 MB, which is 25% more.

That is the price of compatibility. Photo by photo the change went from −7% to +73%, and half of them grew by 34% or less. A JPG packs the same picture less tightly than HEIC, which is why our photos came out bigger together, not smaller. If you need it smaller, compress or resize the JPG afterwards.

All ten JPGs kept the size in pixels of the photo as the phone shows it, turned the right way up.

The location does not come along

A photo can carry where it was taken. Of our 10 photos, 3 had real GPS coordinates, and 5 had a GPS tag of some kind, filled or empty. After the conversion, the number of JPGs with any GPS data in them was 0.

This is on purpose: the tool writes each JPG from the pixels, so the location, the camera details and the other metadata of the HEIC stay behind. If you want the location kept, for a photo map or an album, keep the HEIC original, or use the export of your photo app instead.

What else stays in the HEIC

Converting re-encodes the picture, so the JPG is a new file, not a copy of the HEIC with a new name. Some HEIC files also hold more than one picture. Only the main picture becomes the JPG: the depth map of a portrait shot and the second picture of a spatial photo are left out.

Your HEIC files are never changed. Keep them as the originals and send the JPGs, and you lose nothing.

What we measured

Every HEIC test photo of this site, converted with the defaults of the tool above. Change is the JPG against the HEIC.

Measured on November 2, 2026 in Chromium 156 and in WebKit 27.2 on Windows, through the HEIC to JPG page of this site, on our 10 HEIC test photos. The table shows Chromium; WebKit gave the same bytes for ten of the 10 photos.

Sources

• Microsoft Support: Photos app Video Editor error, can’t view this file type. Read on November 1, 2026.
• Microsoft Store: HEIF Image Extension. Read on November 1, 2026.
• Apple Support: Using HEIF or HEVC media on Apple devices. Read on November 1, 2026.
• Apple Support: Transfer photos from your iPhone or iPad. Read on November 1, 2026.