You'll need to download an extension or program to help you deal with it. If you're a Windows or Android user, you can't simply open a HEIF should you find yourself in possession of one. That way you can share them with whomever you want without worrying if your buddy will be able to open them on their Android phone, for example. One of the limiting factors of HEIC is that it's only natively supported by Apple's operating system (iOS 11 and higher, and MacOS High Sierra and higher).īut don't worry – even though your iPhone takes photos in HEIC, if you have iOS 11 or MacOS Sierra and higher you can easily convert these photos to JPG (more on that below). So let's break down the main differences between these two formats: Operating system support for HEIC vs JPG You might be more familiar with JPG, because it's been around longer and everyone (on any device) can use and view them easily. There are several important differences between HEIC files and JPG files. Rather, it's a container in which the photo is stored that uses advanced compression techniques to squish that photo down into about half the size of a JPG.Ī quick note, in case you're wondering: HEIF is the standard, and HEIC is the format name Apple gave it :) So I'll refer to it as HEIC in this article for simplicity's sake. That is, they're smaller while still maintaining their quality. HEIF stands for High Efficiency Image Format, and it was adopted by Apple in 2017.Īs you might be able to guess from its name, photos stored in this way are 'more efficient'. heic is the file extension that appears on HEIF files/images. In this article we'll discuss what HEIC is, how it's different from the JPG format, why Apple uses it, how to convert from HEIC to JPG, and more. And you might wonder – what is this photo format, and why does Apple use it? You can do this right from within the Files app-no third-party app required.If you're an Apple user, chances are you've seen the. RELATED: How to Make Your iPhone Use JPG and MP4 Files Instead of HEIF, HEIC, and HEVC How to Convert HEIC Photos to JPG Using Files App If you want to switch back to JPEG format as default for new photos, you can change your camera capture format from the Setting app. If you also use Windows or Android devices, or you’re in a situation where you need to be sure that your photos are in JPG format, you can use the following methods.

But it only works great as long as you stay in the Apple ecosystem. It takes up less space and supports 16-bit color capture instead of 8-bit. Overall, The HEIC format is superior to the JPEG format.

But there are times when it doesn’t work, for example, when you AirDrop photos from your iPhone to your Mac.

For example, when you attach an image to the Mail app, or send it across via an app, it goes through as a JPG file. IOS and iPadOS are quite smart at handling the HEIC/HEIF and JPG/JPEG conversion on the fly.

Convert apple photos to jpeg