HEIC Photos Won't Open — The Complete iPhone Fix Guide

You just transferred photos from your iPhone to a Windows PC, or tried to upload them to a website, and the files have a .heic extension that your computer won't open. Or you sent photos to an Android friend and they can't view them. This is one of the most common iPhone frustrations — and the fix is simple.

Why Does iPhone Take HEIC Photos?

Apple switched iPhones to HEIC format in 2017 with iOS 11. The reason was genuinely practical: HEIC photos are about half the size of JPG at the same visual quality. For a phone with thousands of photos, that difference can save gigabytes of storage.

The problem is that HEIC was developed by MPEG and Apple was an early adopter — while the rest of the digital world runs on JPG. Windows, Android, most websites, most social platforms, and most apps still don't support HEIC natively.

Where HEIC Causes Problems

Windows PCs — Windows Photo Viewer can't open HEIC without paying for Microsoft's HEIF extension or installing third-party software
Android phones — Android's native gallery can't display HEIC photos received from iPhones
Social media uploads — Many platforms reject HEIC or silently convert with unpredictable quality
Online print services — Photo printing websites almost universally require JPG
Email attachments — Some email clients can't display HEIC inline
E-commerce listings — Amazon, eBay, Etsy product photos require JPG

⚡ The Fastest Fix — Convert HEIC to JPG Free

Go to ConvertDriver's HEIC to JPG converter
Select your HEIC photos (you can batch convert multiple at once)
Click Convert and download your JPG files
Your photos now open on any device, anywhere

How to Stop iPhone Taking HEIC Photos

If you'd rather your iPhone take JPG photos going forward:

Open Settings on your iPhone
Scroll down and tap Camera
Tap Formats
Select Most Compatible (instead of High Efficiency)

This switches your camera to JPG. Note: this only affects new photos — existing HEIC photos still need to be converted using a tool like ConvertDriver.

⚠️ Switching to "Most Compatible" reduces storage efficiency. Your photos will be larger (JPG instead of HEIC). If storage space on your iPhone is limited, consider keeping HEIC and converting photos only when you need to share them outside the Apple ecosystem.

Does Converting HEIC to JPG Lose Quality?

At 90% quality (the default), the difference is essentially invisible. Both HEIC and JPG are lossy formats that compress photos by discarding some data. Converting at high quality preserves virtually all visible detail that matters in real-world viewing. The output JPG will be slightly larger than the original HEIC file — but it will open on every device on the planet.

Convert HEIC to JPG — Free & Private

Your photos are never uploaded. Conversion runs in your browser.

📱 Convert HEIC to JPG Free