OpenMyHEIC

JPG to HEIC: How to Convert on Mac, iPhone and Windows

Carlos Esteban
HEIC · Guides

Short answer: OpenMyHEIC converts from HEIC, not to it. Creating a HEIC needs an HEVC encoder, which brings patent licensing and a heavy download, so a free tool that promises JPG to HEIC in your browser either uploads your photo to a server that has one or has to ship that heavy encoder to your browser.

You can still do it properly. Preview on a Mac, the Preview app on an iPhone or iPad, GIMP and libheif's command line tool all write real HEIC files. This guide gives the steps for each, for JPG, PNG, WebP and GIF sources, and then asks the question that matters more: whether converting an existing JPG to HEIC is worth doing at all.

If you came here because a HEIC won't open, you want the opposite direction: convert HEIC to JPG in your browser, with nothing uploaded.

Why this site, and most browser tools, can't do JPG to HEIC

Reading a HEIC and writing one are different jobs (our About page says the same). This site reads them: it runs libheif compiled to WebAssembly inside your browser and decodes the photo on your device. Writing one takes an HEVC encoder, and three things make that awkward:

  • The encoder. libheif's documentation says it uses x265 to encode HEIC, and warns that x265 is GPL software.
  • Patents. GIMP's developer documentation says HEVC has patent issues, which is why many free-software distributors don't want to package HEIC support. Can I use makes the same point from the browser side: HEIC is hard for browsers to support because it is complex and expensive to license, and Chrome, Edge and Firefox can't even display one.
  • Your photo. A site that wants to give you a HEIC has to either ship an encoder to your browser, which is a heavy download, or upload your picture to a server that has one. Uploading is the opposite of what this site promises, so we don't offer it.

Be wary of any tool that doesn't say which of those it does. Renaming a file from .jpg to .heic doesn't create a HEIC; it creates a JPG with the wrong extension. To check what you got, open the file on an iPhone or a Mac, or run heif-info, the libheif tool that prints an overview of a HEIF file.

How to convert JPG to HEIC on a Mac

With Preview

  1. Open the JPG in Preview.
  2. Choose File → Export.
  3. Click the Format pop-up menu and choose HEIC.
  4. Type a name, choose where to save it and click Save.

To convert several images at once, Apple says to open them in one Preview window, select them all in the sidebar and then follow the same steps. Apple says Preview can convert image files to many file types, so the same steps work for a PNG or any other image Preview opens.

With Photos

If the pictures are already in your Photos library, select them and choose File → Export → Export N Photos (N is the number you selected). Apple's guide then says to click the Photo Kind pop-up menu and choose the file type, which includes HEIC, before you click Export.

How to convert JPG to HEIC on an iPhone or iPad

Apple's iPhone User Guide documents a Preview app that can export images as HEIC:

  1. Open the Preview app and open the image.
  2. Tap the button next to the file name, then tap Export.
  3. Choose HEIC as the file format.
  4. Move the Size slider toward a smaller file or toward higher quality.
  5. If the image is a PNG with transparency, leave Alpha on to keep it.
  6. Save the file where you want it.

If your device doesn't have the Preview app, use another route here or a Mac. And if what you really want is for new photos to be HEIC, you don't need to convert anything: open Settings, tap Camera, tap Formats and choose High Efficiency. Apple recommends capturing in HEIF on iPhones and iPads that support it. That only affects photos you take from now on.

How to convert JPG to HEIC on Windows

Windows doesn't need to be a dead end, but there is no one-click Microsoft converter that we can point you to. Microsoft's HEIF Image Extension listing says it enables Windows to read and write HEIF files, but a codec is not a converter: you still need an app that uses it to save a HEIC. Two documented options:

  • GIMP. GIMP's developer documentation lists HEIC as import and export. Open the image, choose File → Export As and look for HEIC in the file types. Because of the patent issue above, GIMP checks at runtime whether your build can handle HEIC, so if the option isn't there, your build doesn't include it.
  • The libheif command line tool. See the next section. libheif's README describes building it from source, and on Windows with the vcpkg dependency manager.

The command line (Mac, Windows and Linux)

libheif includes heif-enc, which its wiki describes as an example application for converting images to HEIF files. The basic command is:

heif-enc input.jpg -o output.heic

HEVC, which produces .heic, is the default. A few options worth knowing, all from the project's documentation:

  • -q followed by a number from 0 to 100 sets the quality.
  • -L makes the output lossless, and then -q has no effect.
  • Give it several input files and it saves them all into one HEIF file, so run it once per photo.
  • The input formats depend on how your copy was built: JPEG, PNG, TIFF, WebP and Y4M are the ones libheif lists.

ImageMagick is another option. Its format list shows HEIC as readable and writable and says it requires the libheif delegate library, so whether your copy can write HEIC depends on how it was built.

PNG, WebP and GIF to HEIC

  • PNG to HEIC. The steps above work. Transparency is the thing to watch: the iPhone's Preview app has an Alpha switch for exactly this, and heif-enc has a --no-alpha option if you want to drop the alpha channel.
  • WebP to HEIC. Same steps as JPG if your app opens the WebP file, or heif-enc where your build reads WebP.
  • GIF to HEIC. An animated GIF has many frames, while a normal HEIC photo is a single still image, so converting keeps at most one frame. If the animation matters, keep the GIF.

Is it worth converting JPG to HEIC?

Often not. Compare what you gain with what you give up.

What you don't gain. A JPG has already lost information when it was saved. Converting it to HEIC compresses the picture a second time; it can't bring back detail that isn't there, and the file isn't guaranteed to get smaller. Apple's claim that HEIF compresses better than JPEG describes shooting in that format in the first place; it doesn't promise the same result when you re-encode a finished JPG.

What you give up. Compatibility. Microsoft says Windows needs the HEIF Image Extensions plus the HEVC Video Extensions to open HEIC, Google's list of file types that work on Chromebooks doesn't include it, and Can I use shows Chrome, Edge and Firefox with no support. Apple adds that when you share a HEIC with a device that doesn't support it, the photo may be sent in a more compatible format such as JPEG, which undoes your conversion. The full picture is in what a HEIC file is, and the trade-offs are in HEIC vs JPEG.

When it makes sense. An app or workflow that explicitly asks for HEIC, or a Mac and iPhone library you want consistent, when everyone who needs the files can open them. For new photos, let the iPhone do it from the start.

Frequently asked questions

Can OpenMyHEIC convert JPG to HEIC?

No. It converts from HEIC to JPG, PNG, WebP, PDF, GIF and BMP. Creating HEIC needs an HEVC encoder, which brings patent licensing and a heavy download.

Is there a free online JPG to HEIC converter?

Some sites offer one, but producing a HEIC needs an HEVC encoder, so the tool either uploads your photo to a server or ships an encoder to your browser. Check how a tool works before you give it personal photos.

Does converting JPG to HEIC improve quality?

No. The JPG has already discarded detail, and re-encoding it can only keep what is left or lose more.

How do I make my iPhone take photos in HEIC?

Open Settings, tap Camera, tap Formats and choose High Efficiency. Photos taken afterwards use HEIF. If you want JPEG instead, choose Most Compatible. Our guide to converting HEIC to JPG on iPhone covers the existing photos.

Can I convert JPG to HEIC on Android?

That depends on the app. Android's documentation lists HEIF encoding for apps from Android 10, through MediaCodec or HeifWriter, so an app can offer it, but we can't point to a standard built-in option.

Will a HEIC I create open on Windows and Android?

On Android 9 and later, HEIF decoding is supported on devices that include it. On Windows you need Microsoft's extensions. If the recipient can't open it, turn it back into JPG or let them use the HEIC viewer.