The most-requested feature
No converter is searched for more often than "HEIC to JPG": every iPhone has shot in Apple's HEIC format by default since 2017, and outside the Apple world hardly anyone can open it. A button for it would fit JNRT Pixel like nothing else. And yet, instead of a button, what you'll find here is a guide with alternatives — and that's a deliberate decision, not a gap.
The technical problem in one paragraph
Our tools work browser-local: the browser decodes the image, the Canvas API re-encodes it. That works because every browser can decode JPG, PNG, GIF, and WebP. HEIC it cannot — with the exception of Safari on Apple devices. HEIC is based on the video codec H.265/HEVC, and that codec is patent-encumbered: anyone decoding it moves through a tangle of licensing pools. Google, Mozilla, and Microsoft have chosen not to acquire those licenses for their browsers — which is why Chrome still won't open a HEIC file to this day.
The two routes others take
Online services that offer HEIC conversion solve this in one of two ways — both with a catch:
- Route 1: server-side conversion. The HEIC is uploaded and decoded on the server. Works reliably — but your iPhone photos (with GPS data, see our metadata post) then sit on someone else's server. Exactly the model we decided against on principle. A single button that quietly uploads after all, while everything else stays local, would make our central promise ring hollow.
- Route 2: a decoder in WebAssembly. You can compile an HEVC decoder (based on libheif, say) to WebAssembly and run it in the browser. That stays local — but costs several megabytes of download before the first image is processed, runs sluggishly on weaker devices, and the patent question shifts from the browser vendor to the website operator. For an ad-funded free service, that's a legal gray area we don't want to step into.
Our decision: the honest detour
Instead of a button with an asterisk, we offer the routes that work without compromise — usually faster than any web converter:
- Turn it off at the source: iPhone Settings → Camera → Formats → "Most Compatible". From then on, the iPhone shoots straight to JPG.
- Let sharing convert for you: iPhones automatically convert HEIC to JPG when sharing via email or to non-Apple devices — most users only hit the problem with cable transfers.
- On Windows: install the free "HEIF Image Extensions" from the Microsoft Store, then the Photos app opens HEIC and saves as JPG.
All the routes in detail, including the Mac and iCloud variants, are in the HEIC guide; the format background is in the post HEIC/HEIF explained.
When we'll revisit the decision
Product decisions come with an expiry date, and this one hinges on two developments we're watching: first, browsers could expose HEVC decoding through the new WebCodecs API wherever the operating system ships it anyway — then HEIC conversion would work locally, with no mega-download and no licensing question of our own. Second, the problem is losing weight on its own: Apple is shooting in increasingly interoperable formats, and newer Windows versions ship with HEIF support. As soon as one of the two routes holds up, we'll build the button — and write the next workshop post about it.
What this post is really trying to say
It would have been easy to build a HEIC button that quietly sends images to a server — hardly any user would have noticed. We believe you can trust a tool precisely when its maker also explains what it can't do and why. That's why this text is here.
Sources
Can I use — HEIF/HEIC browser support · Apple — Media formats used by iPhone and iPad · libheif — source code on GitHub.