If you have ever transferred photos from an iPhone to a Windows PC, you have probably encountered files ending in .heic that refuse to open. HEIC has become one of the most common image formats in the world, yet outside the Apple ecosystem, support remains patchy. Here is everything you need to know about the format and how to work with it.
What Does HEIC Stand For?
HEIC stands for High Efficiency Image Container. It is a file format based on the HEIF (High Efficiency Image Format) standard, which uses the HEVC (H.265) video codec to compress still images. The technical distinction is that HEIF is the standard and HEIC is the specific container that uses HEVC compression, but in everyday use, the terms are interchangeable.
Apple adopted HEIC as the default photo format on iPhones starting with iOS 11 in 2017. Every iPhone photo you take today is saved as a HEIC file unless you manually change your camera settings.
Why Does Apple Use HEIC?
The primary reason is file size. HEIC produces images that are roughly 50% smaller than JPEG at the same visual quality. For a device that stores thousands of photos, this means significantly more storage space. A typical iPhone photo that would be 4 MB as a JPEG is around 2 MB as HEIC.
Beyond compression, HEIC supports features that JPEG cannot match:
- 16-bit color depth for wider dynamic range and smoother gradients
- Transparency (alpha channel), similar to PNG
- Multiple images in one file, which is how Apple stores Live Photos and burst sequences
- Non-destructive edits — iOS can store editing instructions inside the file without altering the original pixels
- Depth maps for Portrait Mode effects
The Compatibility Problem
Despite its technical advantages, HEIC has a major practical limitation: it does not work everywhere. Windows did not add native HEIC support until Windows 10 (and it sometimes requires a free codec from the Microsoft Store). Many web browsers cannot display HEIC files directly. Popular platforms like WordPress, Shopify, and most social media sites do not accept HEIC uploads.
This means that if you want to share iPhone photos on the web, email them to someone on Android or Windows, or upload them to most online services, you will need to convert them to a universally supported format like JPEG, PNG, or WebP first.
How to Convert HEIC Files
There are several ways to handle HEIC conversion:
Change Your iPhone Settings
You can tell your iPhone to save photos as JPEG instead of HEIC. Go to Settings > Camera > Formats and select “Most Compatible.” This switches your camera to JPEG output. The downside is that your photos will take up roughly twice as much storage space.
Let Apple Convert on Transfer
Under Settings > Photos, there is an option called “Automatic” under “Transfer to Mac or PC.” When enabled, iOS automatically converts HEIC files to JPEG when transferring via USB. This is convenient but only works for wired transfers.
Use an Online Converter
For quick one-off conversions or batch processing, a browser-based tool is the fastest option. QuickImg’s image converter handles HEIC files and converts them to JPEG, PNG, or WebP instantly. All processing runs in your browser — your photos are never uploaded to any server, keeping your personal images completely private.
HEIC vs JPEG: Which Should You Use?
If you stay within the Apple ecosystem — iPhone to Mac to iCloud — HEIC works seamlessly and saves storage. Keep it as your default. When you need to share files outside Apple devices, convert to JPEG for maximum compatibility or to WebP for better compression with broad browser support.
For web publishing, JPEG and WebP remain the practical choices because they work everywhere without additional codecs. AVIF is emerging as another strong option that matches or exceeds HEIC compression, and it has growing browser support without the licensing complications of HEVC.