HEIC Compressor & Converter

Why convert HEIC files?

Since iOS 11, iPhones and iPads save photos as HEIC by default. It’s a brilliant format for saving space on your device, but it has one big drawback: compatibility. Plenty of Windows PCs, web apps, content management systems, photo printers, and older phones still can’t open a .heic file, which leads to the all-too-familiar “unsupported format” error when you try to share or upload a picture.

Converting your HEIC photos to a widely-supported format like JPG, WebP, or AVIFfixes that instantly — the image opens everywhere, while you keep control over quality and file size. And because this tool runs entirely on your device, your personal photos are never uploaded to anyone’s server.

What is HEIC (and HEIF)?

HEIC stands for High Efficiency Image Container. It’s Apple’s implementation of the HEIF (High Efficiency Image File Format) standard, in which the actual picture is compressed with HEVC (H.265) — the same modern video codec used for efficient video. That advanced compression is why a HEIC photo is typically around half the size of an equivalent JPEG at the same visual quality, and why it can also store extras like depth maps, Live Photos, and wider color. You can read more about how browsers handle image formats on MDN’s image format reference. The decoding here is powered by libheif, the open-source HEIF/HEIC library, compiled to WebAssembly.

Compressing vs converting: what to expect

Here’s an honest point most converters won’t tell you: because HEIC is already so efficient, a plain HEIC → JPEG conversion won’t always make the file smaller— and can occasionally make it a little larger. That’s not a bug; it’s the cost of moving to JPEG’s older, more compatible compression.

If your goal is genuinely smaller files, you have three levers, and you can combine them:

• Choose WebP or AVIF instead of JPEG.These modern formats rival HEIC’s efficiency, so you keep the small size and gain broad compatibility. AVIF, like HEIC, is based on modern codec technology and usually produces the smallest result.
• Lower the quality slider. Dropping from 90 to 70–75 cuts the file substantially with little visible change.
• Resize the image.A 4032×3024 phone photo is far larger than any screen needs. Scaling it down is the single biggest saving for sharing or the web.

JPEG, WebP, or AVIF: which to choose

JPEG is the safe default: every device, app, and website on earth can open it, making it perfect for emailing photos, uploading to a site that rejects HEIC, or sending to someone on Windows. Compress JPEGs further anytime.

WebP is widely supported in modern browsers and apps and is roughly 25–35% smaller than JPEG — a great pick for the web. AVIF is the most space-efficient of the three and the closest relative to HEIC, ideal when small size matters most and your destination supports it. Not sure? Convert a sample both ways with our image converter and compare, or read our format comparison.

Private by design, and open source

Your camera roll is personal. Uploading it to a random conversion site means handing strangers copies of your photos — including whatever’s in the background. FileShrinking takes a different approach: your HEIC files are decoded and re-encoded locally in your browserand never transmitted anywhere. You don’t have to take our word for it either — the entire project is open source, so the no-upload promise is something anyone can verify in the code. Learn more about how this works in our explainer on client-side compression.

Tips for the best results

• Sending to someone or uploading somewhere?Pick JPG — it’s guaranteed to open.
• Optimizing for the web or storage? Pick AVIF or WebP for the smallest files at the same quality.
• Resize before you convert. If the photo will be viewed on a phone or in a document, scaling it down saves far more than quality alone.
• Batch a whole AirDrop. Drop in every photo at once and download them together as a ZIP.