HEIF to JPG

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Written by Victoria
Updated on March 17, 2025

I’ve got an iPhone and my mom has a Samsung. Both phones have a lot of internal memory and really nice cameras. We never paid attention to the photo format set on the devices until we copied photos of our recent holiday to our family laptop on Windows and tried to share a few pics with my grandma, who has an old Android.

I helped my mom switch off HEIF on the Samsung to save her from the conversion headache. But I take a lot of pics, and I prefer to save space. The HEIF format doesn’t bother me. On the contrary, it is sometimes smaller in size than JPEG files. The solution I prefer is to convert HEIF to JPG on my computer after or during the transfer.

Below, I will show you how to change HEIF to the most compatible format on iPhone and Android. If you simply want to convert HEIF to JPG, you can do it directly on your iPhone or Android. If, however, you have many photos to convert, I recommend doing it on a Windows PC.


How to convert HEIF to JPG?

My iPhone and my mom’s new Samsung take pictures in HEIF. When we send the photos to someone from the phone, there are usually no problems. All the popular messaging apps like Telegram, WhatsApp, Facebook messenger automatically convert HEIF to JPG. However, some apps or mail do not support HEIF yet. What’s more, Windows PC doesn’t support HEIF!

When I need to convert a photo or two on my iPhone, I simply Google an online converter. I upload the pictures to a website and then download the converted copies. They appear in my Photos app.

When I have many pictures to convert, it’s more convenient for me to copy them to my Windows laptop and convert them there (go directly to the PC solution).

So, let me show you what I do, in detail and with screenshots.

Convert HEIF image to JPG on iPhone

There’s no native way to convert HEIF to JPG on iPhone. To convert a few pictures manually, one can :

Solution 1 – use an online converter website Google offers.

heif to jpg converter online

Solution 2 – install an app from AppStore that can convert HEIF to JPEG.

heif to jpg converter download on iPhone

When I need to convert photos in bulk without loss, convert photos of my passport or another sensitive document, I do it on my Windows PC (see the steps below).


How to convert HEIF to JPG on Android?

I sent photos from my vacation to my grandma. But the pictures were in HEIF. She couldn’t open them because her Android doesn’t support the format. Here’s the message she obtained:

impossible to open HEIF on Android

To view the photos, she could convert them from HEIF to JPG or PNG. However, it was quite complicated for her.

How do I convert HEIF to JPG on Android? If you’re a little more tech-savvy than my grandma, there are 2 ways to do it directly on the device:

Solution 1 – find an app that can convert HEIF to JPEG. Go to Google Play or Galaxy Store. You can install any. Then follow the instructions of the app.

I tried it on an old Android that doesn’t support HEIF. I couldn’t find the downloaded .HEIF file on the device first. Then, the app’s interface wasn’t really user-friendly, and I got lost. It took me time to understand how to save the converted version to my photo gallery.

heif image to jpg converter download android

Solution 2 – look for a website that can convert HEIF to JPG online. Upload the HEIF image, then download the converted image.

An online converter was easier to use than the app. However, there were still drawbacks. You can read about them below.

free heif to jpg converter online

An online converter or a converter app can be a lifesaver when I need to convert a few pictures. But I still prefer to convert HEIF pictures to JPEG on my Windows PC. That way, I can preserve the date taken and quality (see the steps below).


HEIF to JPG converter for Windows

A PC comes in handy if you have many photos to convert from HEIF to JPG at once.

I prefer to use a tool called CopyTrans Studio. You will have to download the HEIF to JPG converter and install it on the PC. It is useful both for Android and Apple users.

Download the HEIF image to JPG converter by clicking on the button below. Install it normally on your PC. Follow the installation instructions if necessary. It’s important to restart the PC when the installation is finished.

 Download CopyTrans Studio

If you haven’t copied the photos from the phone to the PC yet, here’s how to proceed.

Copy photos from iPhone to PC:

Connect the iPhone to the PC and open CopyTrans Studio.

How to open CopyTrans Studio on Windows 11

You can make a “Backup” to copy everything at once.

Copy iPhone photos to Windows 11

Check the box next to “Convert photo in HEIC to JPEG” in the window that appears.

HEIF to JPG converter for iPhone free download

Copy photos from Android to PC:

Connect the device to the PC. Open File Explorer and find the pictures you want to copy. Drag and drop them to a folder on your desktop.

You will not see HEIF photos without CopyTrans Studio extensions.

HEIF not seen on Windows

How do I change HEIF to JPG?

Right-click on the folder with HEIF photos on your desktop. Select “Convert with CopyTrans”. You can convert photos in the folder separately the same way.

Convert a folder with HEIF images to JPEG on Windows 11

With CopyTrans Studio, you can simply view your HEIF images on Windows without conversion! Double-click on a photo and it will be opened.

 Download CopyTrans Studio

Why are my photos in HEIF format

Photos on my mom’s Android and on my iPhone are in HEIF because the “High Efficiency pictures” setting is on. What is a HEIF image? On the iPhone, it was enabled by default.

Photos on iPhone are in HEIF

iPhone photos are in HEIF Samsung photos are in HEIF

Photos on Android are in HEIF/ HEIC

The .HEIF extension didn’t bother me anyhow. The problem only appeared when I needed to upload a few photos to an app that doesn’t support HEIF, attach them to an email or send them to a Windows PC.

If you want to spare yourself from incompatibility or conversion problems, you can disable HEIF in the device settings. You can re-enable it any time to make photos in HEIF again.


How to disable HEIF?

One can disable HEIF in the phone settings, not in the camera app.

What happens if I switch off HEIF?

All the photos taken before will stay in HEIF. New photos will be in JPEG from now on. It won’t influence the quality of the new photos, but the image size can increase.

How to convert all my HEIF photos to JPEG?

How to change HEIF to JPG on iPhone?

To change HEIF to JPG on an iPhone, go to the device:

Settings -> Camera -> Formats -> select Most Compatible.

How to change HEIF to JPG on iPhone

All the new pictures will be made in JPEG. To change all the HEIF photos to JPEG, I recommend using CopyTrans Studio for Windows (see the steps above).

However, even if I disable the setting, the videos are still shot in an Apple tricky format. This format is not compatible with Windows. I needed to use CopyTrans Studio again to watch the videos on my laptop. You can see other ways to play iPhone videos on Windows here. I prefer CopyTrans Studio because it offers a free viewer.


Change HEIF to JPG on Android

To disable HEIF on your Android phone, you need to:

  1. Open the phone settings.
  2. It would be easier to search for “High-efficiency pictures” directly in the search bar. If it can’t find the setting directly, type “camera”.
  3. Click on Camera app info -> Camera settings.
  4. To turn HEIF to JPG, untoggle the “High-efficiency pictures” setting.

Here’s how it looks on a Samsung:

Change HEIF to JPG on Android

And how to convert all my HEIF photos to JPEG now? Better do it on a Windows PC using CopyTrans Studio (see the steps above).


Is HEIF or JPEG better quality?

There’s almost no difference in quality! But even if there’s a slight difference in the way the colors are transmitted, it’s not noticeable for the average user like me. Anyway, should I shoot JPEG or HEIF?

Shoot in JPEG if you’re not very tech-savvy, like my mom and grandma. It can be a little complicated for you to convert images when necessary. You will have to go through the conversion procedure every time, which is stressful. Better switch the HEIF setting off.

Opt for JPEG If you often back up your photos to your PC or external memory. Windows supports JPEG by default, so the pictures can be viewed on any PC. But if you want to save space, you can shoot in HEIF and install CopyTrans Studio on your PC. That way, you will be able to view the HEIF photos along with their thumbnails in folders. How to install the CopyTrans viewer?

Opt for HEIF if you take thousands of photos, but you don’t have much space on your device. HEIF files can be smaller in size. But don’t forget that you cannot view them on Windows without an extension. See how to install HEIF extensions.
Otherwise, shoot in JPEG and constantly copy the photos to a USB stick, then delete the backed-up photos from the device.

Opt for HEIF if you are a professional photographer and you value quality. Photoshop, Figma, and Canva support HEIF files even if Windows PC cannot read them. To be able to view the files on Windows, install HEIF extensions.

What are the benefits of HEIF images?

  • It takes less space. I can make up to 2 times more photos in HEIF than in JPEG.
  • The quality is good.
  • The photo is converted to JPEG automatically when I send it via messaging apps on the phone. So, even my friends with Androids can see the photos.

How to convert HEIF to JPG?

FAQ

What is an HEIF image on iPhone?

An iPhone can take pictures in HEIF or JPEG. So, a HEIF image is a normal picture you took. It can also be a photo that someone sent to you from another Apple device. You can disable HEIF in your iPhone settings.

How do I change the HEIF format on my iPhone?

To change HEIF to JPG on an iPhone, open your Settings (not the Camera app). Find Camera -> Formats -> and select Most Compatible.

You can now take photos in JPEG. But you will have to convert all the HEIF pictures manually. See how to do it.

Does Google Photos support HEIF?

Yes, Google Photos supports HEIF. They are shown as HEIC on the website and in the app on the phone. You can view the pictures, even add HEIC images from the PC.

HEIF photo from iPhone in Google Photos HEIF photo from Android in Google Photos

When you download HEIF photos from Google Photos to the PC or to a phone, they are automatically converted to .jpg. The images are downloaded directly to the main photo app. The size of the photo doesn’t change.

Be careful – Google Photos sometimes copies photos to the PC with the wrong extension! You will not be able to view these photos. You can try to manually rename the extension to .heic or .jpeg for one picture and see if you can open it now.


Conclusion:

There are several ways to convert HEIF to JPG :

Online HEIF converter to JPG On Windows HEIF to JPG free app High Efficiency pictures off Google Photos

Practical for converting a few photos.

Google it, open any website, upload a HEIF file and download the converted JPEG version.

Useful for converting a whole folder.

Copy the photos to Windows and use CopyTrans Studio. See the solution above.

Can be complicated to use.

Install any from the Galaxy Store, Google Play or App Store.

 Disable the setting on your Android or iPhone. All the new photos will be taken in JPEG. See how to proceed above. Upload HEIF to Google Photos and redownload the image. The picture should be automatically converted to JPEG.