HEIC → JPG is for sharing iPhone photos with apps that do not understand HEIC, with HDR and depth-sidecar data left behind.
From real runs
| Element | Result | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Pixels | Changed | Our image engine decodes the HEIC image and writes an 8-bit JPEG; 10-bit HEIC tone detail is quantized. |
| HDR gain map | Lost | JPEG has no Apple HDR gain-map track, so highlights can look flatter than the Photos original. |
| EXIF and GPS | Lost | Camera model, capture time and GPS coordinates are removed from every JPG we write, so a converted phone photo can be shared without revealing where it was taken. |
| Orientation | Changed | The rotation tag is applied to the pixels before saving: a 400×300 HEIC tagged to rotate 90° came out as an upright 300×400 JPG with no orientation tag left to misread. |
| Live Photo video | Lost | Only the still HEIC image is converted; the paired MOV from a Live Photo is ignored. |
| Transparency | Lost | If a HEIC uses alpha, JPEG cannot store it; the visible result is flattened. |
Our image engine decodes the HEIC image and writes an 8-bit JPEG; 10-bit HEIC tone detail is quantized.
JPEG has no Apple HDR gain-map track, so highlights can look flatter than the Photos original.
Camera model, capture time and GPS coordinates are removed from every JPG we write, so a converted phone photo can be shared without revealing where it was taken.
The rotation tag is applied to the pixels before saving: a 400×300 HEIC tagged to rotate 90° came out as an upright 300×400 JPG with no orientation tag left to misread.
Only the still HEIC image is converted; the paired MOV from a Live Photo is ignored.
If a HEIC uses alpha, JPEG cannot store it; the visible result is flattened.
We converted our HEIC/HEIF sample (49 KB) with Image engine on 2026-10-20. It took 74 ms and produced a 39 KB JPEG file, 20% smaller than the input. The engine raised 2 warnings, listed below.
Input · sample.heic · 49 KB
1200 × 800 px, heic
Output · sample.jpg · 39 KB
1200 × 800 px, baseline
ImageMagick 7
magick in.heic -quality 90 out.jpgYour ImageMagick build must include HEIC support; metadata handling can differ from our image engine.
Pillow 11 with pillow-heif
from PIL import Image
import pillow_heif
pillow_heif.register_heif_opener()
Image.open("in.heic").convert("RGB").save("out.jpg", quality=90, exif=Image.open("in.heic").getexif())The example reopens the file to pass EXIF; add your own filtering if you do not want GPS copied.
The HTTP API and the MCP server run the exact engine this page uses (Image engine); the response carries the same warnings the web converter shows. Check support first with GET /api/v1/pairs?from=heic&to=jpg.
curl -X POST https://filetypeconverters.com/api/v1/convert \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $FTC_API_KEY" \
-F "file=@input.heic" -F "from=heic" -F "to=jpg" \
-F 'options={"width":0}' \
--output output.jpg| Key | Applies to | Type | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| width | Writing JPEG | number | 0 |
| height | Writing JPEG | number | 0 |
| fit | Writing JPEG | contain · cover · fill | contain |
| quality | Writing JPEG | number | 90 |
| background | Writing JPEG | string | #ffffff |
| stripMetadata | Writing JPEG | boolean | true |
No. GPS coordinates, capture time and camera details are removed from the JPG, so it is safe to post. If you need the location for a photo library, keep the original HEIC alongside it.
HEIC compression is usually more efficient than JPEG. A quality 90 JPG can be easier to open but still take more bytes than the original iPhone file.
No. The base image is converted, but the Apple HDR gain map has no place in a normal JPEG, so highlight recovery is lost.
No. JPEG is a still-image format, and this conversion ignores the separate Live Photo video component.