How to Convert HEIC Photos to JPG on Windows
Short answer
Windows needs a paid HEVC codec to open HEIC files, which is why they will not display. The fastest fix is a browser converter that works without installing anything. To stop the problem recurring, set your iPhone to Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible, which saves new photos as JPG.
On this page
You plug in an iPhone, copy the photos across, and Windows shows a grid of files it cannot display. Nothing is broken and the photos are fine — Windows simply cannot decode the format they are in.
HEIC is not an Apple-only format in principle, but the codec inside it is patent-encumbered, and Microsoft’s licensing arrangement means most Windows PCs ship without the ability to read it.
There are three fixes depending on whether you want to solve this once, solve it permanently, or stop it happening.
The quick fix: convert in the browser
For a handful of photos, or a one-off batch, this is the fastest route and installs nothing.
Our HEIC to JPG converter runs entirely in your browser — the decoder is WebAssembly, so the photos never leave your computer. That matters more than it sounds: photos carry GPS coordinates in their metadata, and most free online converters upload everything you give them.
- Open the tool.
- Drop in up to 20 HEIC files.
- Choose JPG (or WebP, if the photos are going on a website).
- Download individually or all at once.
The default quality of 90% preserves the photo faithfully. Drop it to 80% if you want smaller files and are not going to print them.
The permanent fix: install the codec
If you deal with HEIC files regularly, making Windows read them natively is worth the small cost — File Explorer shows thumbnails, Photos opens them directly, and every application that uses the system image decoder works.
You need two extensions from the Microsoft Store:
- HEIF Image Extensions — free. This handles the container.
- HEVC Video Extensions — around £0.79 / $0.99. This is the actual codec.
The second one is the one that matters, and the one people miss. There is also a listing called “HEVC Video Extensions from Device Manufacturer” which is free but only installs on PCs whose manufacturer has licensed it — worth trying first, since it costs nothing if it works.
With both installed, HEIC files behave like any other image, and the Photos app can export them to JPG in bulk.
Bulk conversion without paying
If you have hundreds of photos and would rather not buy the codec, two offline options handle unlimited batches.
IrfanView — free, small, and fast. Install it along with the plugin pack, then use File → Batch Conversion, add your HEIC files, set the output format to JPG, and set quality to 90. It processes hundreds of files in a minute or two.
XnConvert — free for personal use, more capable, with a friendlier interface for resizing and renaming during the conversion.
Both run locally, which keeps the photos on your machine.
The real fix: stop the iPhone producing HEIC
The conversions above are all treating a symptom. If you regularly move photos to a Windows PC, change the setting at the source.
Change the camera format
Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible.
New photos are then saved as JPG and videos as H.264. Existing photos stay as they are — this only affects what the camera captures from now on.
The cost is storage: JPG files are roughly twice the size of the HEIC equivalent, so a phone already short on space gets shorter. If that is a concern, freeing up iPhone storage has more room in it than this setting costs.
Or convert only during transfer
Better still, if you want to keep HEIC on the phone for the space saving:
Settings → Photos → Transfer to Mac or PC → Automatic.
The iPhone then converts photos to JPG as it copies them to a PC, keeping the efficient originals on the device. Keep Originals does the opposite and is the setting that surprises people.
Note that this applies to USB transfer. AirDrop, iCloud and third-party apps each make their own decision.
Which format to convert to
JPG is the default answer, but not always the right one:
| Destination | Format | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Windows, email, printing | JPG | Universal support |
| A website | WebP | ~30% smaller, supported everywhere current |
| Editing further | PNG | Lossless, no generation loss |
| Archive | Keep HEIC | Smallest, and future software will read it |
That last row is worth considering. If the photos are going into long-term storage and you only occasionally need to view one, keeping the HEIC originals and converting on demand costs half the disk space.
Why the converted file is bigger
This surprises people and it is not a fault.
HEIC is roughly twice as efficient as JPG at the same visual quality — that efficiency is precisely why Apple adopted it in 2017. Converting therefore trades file size for compatibility.
A 2MB HEIC becomes a 3–4MB JPG at 90% quality. If that matters, either lower the quality to around 80%, or resize the photos at the same time — the reasoning behind both is in how to compress images without losing quality.
What to avoid
- Renaming .heic to .jpg. The extension is a label, not a conversion. The file contents are unchanged and nothing will open it.
- Free online converters for personal photos. They upload your files, and photos carry location metadata. Use a browser-based converter that processes locally, or an offline application.
- Converting your only copy. Keep the HEIC originals until you have checked the JPGs opened correctly.
- Converting to PNG for photographs. PNG is lossless, which for a photograph means a file several times larger than the JPG with no visible benefit.
What to expect
A browser conversion of 20 photos takes under a minute, including the one-time decoder load. IrfanView handles several hundred in about the same time.
If you convert the same photos more than once, that is the signal to change the iPhone setting rather than to find a faster converter.