How to Convert HEIC to JPEG for Free, and Whether You Need Software

Move some iPhone photos to a Windows PC, find they will not open, and you end up searching for free HEIC conversion software. That is where it tends to stall: the programs everyone recommends stop being free the moment the computer belongs to your employer, and the built-in Windows route has a paid component of its own.

Below is each free route with the catch attached. The short version: for a handful of photos, converting in the browser without installing anything is the quickest way through.

Option 1: convert in the browser (nothing to install)

Drop the photos into the HEIC to JPEG converter and they come back as JPG or PNG. No download, no installer, no account.

This suits the case where converting is a one-off, or something that comes up occasionally: choosing a program, installing it and learning it all disappear. Several files at once work too, with a single ZIP of the results at the end.

What it does not suit is grinding through hundreds of photos every day. The work happens on your own machine, so the wait grows with the pile. As a reference point, a 24-megapixel iPhone photo (4284×5712) takes about five seconds on a desktop.

Option 2: install free software — and the licence catch at work

The two names that come up for batch image conversion are XnConvert and IrfanView. Both are described as free software, and both are — only for personal use.

• XnConvert — the page states it is free for private, educational and non-profit use. On company use, the same page says a licence must be purchased to use XnView in a company, and lists €15 for a single licence, less per licence in bulk. No sentence names XnConvert for that, so check the purchase page before putting it on a work machine.
• IrfanView — its licence says freeware "only for private, non-commercial use (that means at home)", plus schools, universities, museums, libraries and charities. Using it at your place of business means registering and buying it; the licence itself quotes no figure, so take the price from the order page.

Converting a photo that arrived for work, on a work computer, is exactly the commercial use those licences describe. Installing something you believed was free and quietly breaching its terms is worth avoiding, so read the licence line on the download page before you install.

There is also the practical obstacle that many work machines do not let you install anything at all, in which case this option is closed before it starts.

Option 3: teach the Windows Photos app to open HEIC

On Windows 10 and 11 a pair of Microsoft Store extensions lets the Photos app open HEIC, after which you can save a JPEG copy. The catch is that there are two extensions and one of them costs money.

• HEIF Image Extension — free
• HEVC Video Extensions — paid: $0.99 in the US store, ¥120 in Japan. The name says video, but Microsoft's own description states the HEVC package "must be installed in order to view images stored in HEIF files that use the .heic, .hif or .heif file extensions"

Some PC makers preinstall them, so the quickest check is simply to open a HEIC in Photos and see what happens. The full walkthrough, and what to try when it still will not open, is in what to do when a HEIC will not open.

Option 4: have the iPhone produce JPEGs instead

If you would rather not do this again, change the source.

• Shoot JPEG from now on — Settings, Camera, Formats, Most Compatible. Every new photo is a JPEG, at a larger file size.
• Convert only on the way to a computer — Settings, Photos, then Transfer to Mac or PC at the bottom, set to Automatic. Photos are converted as they transfer over a cable, while the phone keeps the smaller HEIC originals. On iOS 18 and later the Settings app was reorganised; if Photos is not in the top-level list, look under Apps.

Neither does anything for the photos already on the phone, so those still need one of the first three options.

What converting does to quality and file size

Quality is down to the setting you convert at. At the default 90% you are unlikely to see a difference on screen. Lower settings give smaller files, but discarded detail does not come back, so keep the HEIC originals.

The size is the part that surprises people. A JPEG is usually bigger, not smaller. HEIC uses newer compression and stores the same picture in less data. Converting a real 24-megapixel iPhone photo (4284×5712) at the default 90% took it from 2.5 MB to 3.2 MB — a factor of 1.28.

So converting HEIC to JPEG is not a way to save space — it is a way to make the file open on the other person's computer. If space matters, delete the JPEG once it has served its purpose and keep the HEIC.

Which one to pick

• A few photos, right now — option 1. Nothing to install, done in a minute.
• Hundreds every day — option 2, with the licence checked if it is a work machine.
• You also want to view HEIC on Windows — option 3, if the dollar is worth it to you.
• You want the problem to stop recurring — option 4 alongside one of the others.

Summary

• For a handful of photos, convert in the browser: no install, no account.
• The usual free converters are free for personal use only; a work machine needs a licence.
• The Windows Photos route needs two extensions, one of them paid.
• iPhone settings can produce JPEGs for new photos, or convert on transfer to a computer.
• JPEG files come out larger. Converting buys compatibility, not space.